


No Need to Huff and Puff, I’ll Let You Come In

by glitterfics



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Book/Movie Fusion, Blood and Gore, Humor, M/M, Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-06
Updated: 2013-04-06
Packaged: 2017-12-07 16:20:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/750509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitterfics/pseuds/glitterfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange things start happening during a weekend trip to a cabin and Stiles gets a very bad feeling about it all. Throw in a mysterious corporation, secretly watching their every move, and a couple of actual freaking werewolves hunting them and things get so much worse than Stiles ever imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Need to Huff and Puff, I’ll Let You Come In

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for recast_bb but that challenge unfortunately died so I figured I'd post it anyway. It's a Teen Wolf/The Cabin in the Woods fusion so contains spoilers for the movie and the first two seasons of Teen Wolf.
> 
> Thanks, yet again, to my squishy beta [lazydazyfics](http://lazydazyfics.livejournal.com/).
> 
> The only things I own are my cats <3

“When the hell did this turn into some sort of couples' thing?” Stiles demanded as he threw his bags into the back of the jeep. “It’s supposed to be a lacrosse thing. I distinctly remember the words ‘boys only’ being uttered so why do I suddenly have to spend the weekend watching Jackson make out with the girl of my dreams?”

“Like she even knows you exist.” Scott rolled his eyes and then laughed as he ducked the empty travel mug that Stiles threw at his head. “All I know is what Jackson told me when he called. That Lydia and some friend of hers were coming with us now and that I had to entertain the friend or he’d tell Coach Winters that we were the ones who TPed his house that time.”

“Ah yes, good times.” Stiles smiled smugly into the middle distance for a moment as he remembered it then shook his head and dragged himself back to the present. “Well, so much for the big co-captains bonding weekend.” 

The lacrosse coach had finally reached breaking point with Jackson and Scott fighting each other during games and decided to do something about it. That something had turned out to be forcing the two boys to spend the weekend in some godforsaken cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently he thought it would make them work out their issues and then let them work on some actual game strategies to stop their college from losing yet another game this season. 

Stiles had laughed himself silly for three whole minutes until he realized that the coach was also sending Stiles and Danny along to make sure that Jackson and Scott didn’t actually kill each other. But no matter how bad Stiles had thought _that_ weekend was going to be, the one facing him now was even worse. 

Lydia Martin was the most beautiful girl that Stiles had ever seen and he’d been nursing the biggest crush on her ever since he witnessed her making some jerk of a TA cry during their first week as freshmen. He’d been trying to get her attention ever since but it seemed that even in college he was doomed to be ignored by the popular crowd. Besides, she was dating uber-rich Jackson Whittemore and Stiles couldn’t hope to compete with that. The best he could do was join the lacrosse team in the hopes of her noticing him during a game some time; if he ever got to play in an actual game instead of just warming the bench.

And now he had to spend an entire weekend watching Lydia pretend to be stupid, instead of the genius levels of intelligent that Stiles knew she actually was, so that she didn’t upset her boyfriend aka: the biggest douche in the history of douche-kind. On top of that he had to witness his best friend’s uncomfortable dancing around whatever girl was ugly enough that Jackson had to blackmail _Scott_ to date her.

“Thank god Danny’s going to be there,” Stiles muttered to himself as they climbed into his jeep. 

He may not be actual friends with the guy – due to the aforementioned ‘popular kids rule’ – but Danny had a pretty dry sense of humor that Stiles appreciated and which could make the trip a little more bearable.

“Um, actually…” Scott began with an apologetic look on his face and Stiles started banging his forehead against the steering wheel.

*-*-*-*-*

“How did we get rid of the other boy?” Harris asked as he walked down one of the brightly light corridors of the underground complex.

“Oh that was genius,” Finstock replied with an enthusiastic grin. “We arranged for his mother to catch him in a compromising position with the quarterback of the football team. After all the screaming had stopped, and everyone was fully clothed again, she demanded that Danny bring the poor guy home to ‘meet the family’ this weekend.”

Harris snorted. “You can never beat those parents who go over the top in their attempts to prove they’re fine with their children being gay.”

“I’m almost tempted to get cameras set up in the kid’s house so that we can watch the car wreck _that_ visit will turn into,” Finstock agreed.

“We’ve got enough to do here, don’t you think?”

Both men looked up in surprise as Kate appeared in front of them, fully armed as usual. 

“Sweden just failed so it’s down to us and the Japanese,” she informed them.

“What about Britain?” Harris frowned.

Kate rolled her eyes as she fell into step with them, “Their tributes picked the Mud Maids.”

The two men groaned; the Mud Maids were notoriously easy to defeat. 

“Why are they even on the list?” Finstock complained.

“Fair play…blah, blah…’the code’…” Kate mimed a yawn. “I swear the Brits are as bad as my brother.”

“Speaking of…where is Chris?” Harris asked. “Because if he tries to interfere this could go very badly for all of…”

“Let me worry about, Chris,” Kate interrupted. “He won’t know anything about it until it’s all over. You just concentrate on doing your job and we’ll be fine.”

She patted his cheek and gave him a wink before sashaying into the control room. Harris stared at her ass and reminisced for a moment about a drunken night they’d shared 6 years earlier; one which had actually led him to this job. Then he turned his attention back to his partner who had jumped up onto a table wielding an ornate plastic sword at all the workers congregated in the room.

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day…”

Harris shook his head. “Return of the King? Again?” he muttered to himself.

Finstock carried on obliviously. “An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you _stand, Men of the West!_ ” With that, Finstock pulled a sheet off the white board behind him with a flourish to reveal a large list of horrors. “People, start your betting!”

*-*-*-*-*

Stiles sniggered into his now coffee filled travel mug. It turned out that Lydia’s friend wasn’t ugly at all; in fact Allison Argent was a knock out and exactly Scott’s type. Which would have been great for Scott if he could actually talk to girls he was attracted to without getting all nervous and putting his foot in it as often as possible. They were an hour into the drive to the cabin and so far he’d managed to tell Allison that her hair smelled and that she had child bearing hips.

At the current moment in time Stiles was enjoying the sight of Scott’s third attempt at flirting and felt that the weekend was beginning to look up if he had this sort of entertainment.

“I didn’t mean that you remind me of my mum.” Scott’s eyes were wide in horror as he tried to dig his way out of the hole he’d managed to climb into. “I just meant that she has nice eyes too…not that I look at my mum in that way because that’s all kinds of wrong; it’s just an observation… I like your eyes. They’re brown.”

Allison nodded and gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, they are. Um…thanks?”

Jackson burst out laughing from the driver’s seat of his parents’ camper van and Lydia smacked him on the arm in reproach. Still, there was a smile dancing around her mouth as she glanced back into the little dining area and caught Stiles’ eye to share in the general amusement at Scott’s chat up technique. 

Lydia had totally just acknowledged Stiles’ existence; he did a mental fist pump. Oh yes, this weekend was definitely looking up.

Scott slumped into the seat next to Stiles with a heartfelt sigh after Allison had pointedly opened a book and started reading. Stiles patted him sympathetically on the leg and glanced out of the window to hide his smirk.

“Where the hell are we?” he asked as he took in the trees, trees and more trees on either side of the road.

“The middle of fucking nowhere,” Jackson muttered.

Lydia leaned forward to look at the GPS. “We’re apparently about 20 minutes from the cabin.”

“I’m guessing we won’t be able to get pizza delivered tonight,” Stiles mused.

Scott sat up straighter. “Do any of us actually know how to cook?”

“The girls are in charge of the cooking,” Jackson said and glanced back at Scott, “So you’d better learn quickly, McCall.”

There were squawks of outrage from Lydia, Allison and Scott at that and Jackson laughed as he turned back to look at the road.

“Shit!” he yelled as he slammed on the brakes.

The van squealed in protest and finally came to a stop an inch away from the guy standing in the middle of the road.

“Is everyone okay?” Allison asked, looking around in concern.

Stiles waved his arm at her in the affirmative before dragging himself up from the floor with a groan. He’d banged his elbow pretty hard when he slid out of the seat.

“What the fuck?” Jackson breathed, staring out of the window.

Stiles got to his feet and turned to look as well. “Christ, that guy’s picture should be used as the definition of ‘redneck’ in the dictionary.”

“He didn’t even flinch,” Lydia said in a shocked voice. “Jackson almost hit him and he just stood there.”

“He stepped out in front of us on purpose.” Jackson was starting to get angry. “It’s probably some sort of insurance scam. Guy thought he could get money out of me? He’s got another thing coming.”

He threw open the driver’s door and climbed out. “Hey man, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Lydia quickly followed him and the rest of them fell over each other to get out of the back of the van.

“You have been judged and you will be punished,” the man was saying as they reached him.

“Is that a threat?” Jackson demanded. “Because I didn’t touch you and I have witnesses to that.”

Close up, Stiles was shocked to realize that underneath all that dirt the redneck was close to their age. If he got a new wardrobe, a shower and some serious dental work, the guy probably wouldn’t be out of place at their college. Maybe.

“…dad’s a lawyer so don’t begin even think that you can sue me. He’ll bury you before the ink dries on your paperwork if you even know how to fill it out…” Jackson was still ranting but the redneck wasn’t even looking at him, he was staring at Lydia in a way that made the hairs rise on the back of Stiles’ neck.

Without even thinking about it, Stiles moved closer to her and noticed Scott doing the same thing with Allison.

“The whore will be the first to face the retribution,” the redneck said, spitting a wad of tobacco at Lydia’s feet.

Everyone’s mouths fell open, even Jackson was shocked into silence for a moment before he stepped towards the redneck menacingly.

“What did you just say?” he asked quietly, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Oh, please,” Lydia interrupted and pulled Jackson back. “He’s obviously never seen a real woman before, or at least, one who wears actual shoes and wasn’t dressed head to toe in _gingham_. This…” She waved her hand to indicate her outfit. “…doesn’t make me a whore and even if it did, you certainly couldn’t afford me.”

She flicked her hair back over her shoulder and strode back to the van with Allison quickly following her. 

“Is this how you get your kicks? Forcing outsiders to pull over so that you can act all crazy and insult them?” Stiles asked the man. “I know it must get pretty boring out here and all but, really, you need to find yourself a hobby before you get hurt”

The man scoffed. “The fool really thinks he can hurt me?”

 _Fool?_ Stiles bristled at the insult and then nodded his head towards the side of the man. The redneck turned to look at where Stiles was indicating just in time to get the full brunt of Jackson’s fist in his face.

As Jackson and Scott headed back to the van, Stiles stood over the redneck as he writhed on the floor clutching at his freely bleeding nose. “Who’s the fool now, bitch?”

*-*-*-*-*

“The Harbinger is on the phone, sir.” The tinny voice came over the intercom and Finstock groaned.

“Put him through.”

There was a beep and then the sound of wet wheezing on the line.

“Greenburg, what the hell was that?” Finstock demanded.

“They must all die screaming,” Greenburg ignored the question. “They must pay, they must burn…they...they broke my nose.”

“Of course they did, they’ve met you. I want to break your nose all the time,” Finstock replied. “What's with the standing in the road nonsense? You could’ve killed them before they even reached the cabin!”

“I’m the Harbinger, they can’t kill me,” Greenburg said smugly. “I was chosen.”

Harris covered his face with his hand. “Moron,” he muttered.

“I don’t care if _you_ die, Greenburg. In fact it would probably be a bright point in my day,” Finstock told him. “But the kids have to make it here. There’s no Ritual without the tributes and if there’s no Ritual we _all_ die; chosen or not.”

Finstock muted the speaker and shared a look with Harris and Kate. “What were downstairs thinking when they picked this idiot?”

“The Harbingers are always a little screwy,” Kate pointed out. “It sort of comes with the job.”

“Yes, but there’s screwy and then there’s just plain stupidity,” Harris said. “You need to speak to the director about Greenburg when this is all over. The kid could’ve put the entire thing in jeopardy.”

“Plus, I hate his face. I’m not sure I can stand looking at it for too much longer,” Finstock put in helpfully. “I may just have to kill him myself.”

“We’ll do something about the Harbinger later. We’ve got more important things to worry about right now.” Kate stared at the screen showing the feed from the camera hidden inside the camper van. “There’s even more at risk than normal this time.”

“Fine!” Finstock huffed and then un-muted the phone, where the Harbinger was still ranting about retribution and fire from the sky. “Greenburg…fuck off, we’re busy!”

He ended the connection and sat back in his chair looking so pleased with himself that Harris had to hide a smile.

“They’re approaching the tunnel,” Kate said without taking her eyes from the screen. 

The three of them were quiet as they watched the campervan slowly make its way to the pathway through the mountain. There was a nerve-wracking moment as a large bird began flying above them but, luckily, the van had just entered the tunnel by the time the bird hit the barrier and momentarily revealed the invisible mesh fence surrounding the complex.

Harris let out a long breath. “They’re here.”

“Let the games begin,” Finstock said.

*-*-*-*-*

The five of them stood in front of the campervan and stared at the wooden cabin where they had to spend the next three days.

Stiles let out a low whistle. “Who knew that Coach was such a fan of the Evil Dead? I swear, if I get eaten by zombies, I’m going to come back and haunt him.”

He glanced around and realized that everyone was looking at him with blank faces. “Evil Dead? Classic zombie movie? There’s a creepy looking cabin…? Wow, okay. Never mind.”

“Perhaps it’s a lot nicer inside,” Allison tried, hopefully.

Lydia linked arms with her. “I’m not holding my breath but let’s go check it out while the boys get the stuff out of the van.”

Stiles was expecting Jackson to protest the boys doing all the heavy lifting because that just seemed like something he would do, but when there wasn’t a peep Stiles walked over to see him frantically going through one of Lydia’s many bags while she wasn’t looking.

“I know it’s here somewhere,” he was muttering to himself.

“You know what’s here?” Scott asked, coming up behind Stiles to join in the confused staring at Jackson.

“None of your business, McCall,” Jackson snapped, seemingly on impulse, before he sighed and paused in his rummaging. “'The Notebook'. I know she brought it and if I have to watch that movie one more time, my balls will shrivel up and fall off. Then I’ll be just like you two losers.”

“Hey!” Scott protested.

Stiles rolled his eyes, this was half the problem with Jackson and Scott; the fact that Scott rose to the bait every damn time.

“Honestly, Jackson, I don’t think there’s a TV here,” Stiles pointed out. “I’ll be surprised if this place even has electricity.”

“She’ll find a way,” Jackson replied darkly, making Stiles wonder just how many times he’d been made to sit through it.

“Hey, guys! You should come and see this!”

Scott perked up at the sound of Allison’s voice and eagerly trotted towards it, picking up some bags along the way. Stiles and Jackson grabbed some more bags and followed them into the cabin…which was just as creepy on the inside as it was on the outside. Stiles swept his eyes over the main room taking in the stuffed wolf’s head on the wall, the decrepit furniture and the highly disturbing and gory paintings on the wall. 

“Jesus…” he muttered.

“I know, right?”

Stiles jumped as he realized Allison had moved to stand right next to him and was staring at the room with wide eyes. “Maybe we can cover the weirder stuff up while we’re here.”

“Maybe we can do Coach a favour and burn the place to the ground,” Jackson said and Scott snorted in agreement.

Lydia walked into the room from the corridor off to one side. “I’ve found a semi-decent bedroom so obviously that’s mine and Jackson's,” she announced to the room. “You can fight over the rest amongst yourselves.”

Jackson gave them all a smug look as he followed Lydia towards the bedroom she’d claimed.

“Allison should pick next!” Scott yelled as if there was a loud argument going on about who got the next room instead of three people standing silently in a room waiting to see who would speak first.

Stiles raised an eyebrow at him and Allison ducked her head to hide a smile.

“Thanks,” she told him and Scott blushed a bright red colour as she walked into the room opposite Lydia and Jackson’s.

Scott stood where he was for a moment and then dived into the room next to Allison’s. “This one’s mine!” he called out to Stiles who chuckled to himself and walked into the last room to dump his bag on the bed.

The bedroom wasn’t as bad as he’d been expecting. The bed actually looked kind of comfortable and, sure, there were some creepy looking dolls dotted here and there but it wasn’t as if Stiles couldn’t hide them somewhere during the duration of their stay.

He walked across the hall to check out Scott’s room and stopped dead as he saw what Scott was looking at.

“Dude! Not cool!” he hissed.

“I didn’t know it was there, I just didn’t want to stare at _this_ all weekend,” Scott whispered back, lifting the truly disgusting painting in his hands to show Stiles.

Well, that was fair enough but…Stiles looked back up where the painting had been and at Allison who was touching up her lip gloss in what was obviously just a mirror on her side of the wall.

“Oh my God! The coach is a pervert!” Stiles made an ‘eww’ face as the realization hit him. “He probably invites poor unsuspecting nubile young girls up here and puts them in that room so that he can watch them!”

“No, Coach isn’t like that.” Scott shook his head. “He’s old. He’s like fifty or something.”

“Well, do you have a better explanation for this?” Stiles gestured towards the one way mirror just as Allison began unbuttoning her top. “Oh no!”

“Oh God!” Scott said and covered his eyes. Then he uncovered them to look at the mirror, then at the door, then at the mirror again.

“Scott!” 

“Right, you’re right.” Scott covered his eyes again and ran for the door, banging straight into it and falling on the floor.

“It’s probably best if you opened it first, Scott,” Stiles pointed out drily.

“Shut up!”

A few minutes later, all five of them were standing in Scott’s room looking at the one way mirror.

“Nice,” Jackson said before Lydia and Allison simultaneously smacked him upside the head.

“I can’t believe that people would do something like this,” Allison said, wrapping her arms around herself. 

“I’ll swap rooms with you,” Scott told Allison. “That way you’ll know that no-one is watching you.”

Her shoulders slumped in relief and she gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. You’re so sweet.”

“And that way _you_ can watch _Scott_.” Lydia gave an evil smirk and raked her eyes up and down Scott who had put on a lot of muscle since he’d become co-captain.

Jackson scowled and pulled Lydia up against him while shooting a glare at Scott over her shoulder. Scott didn’t notice the glaring though because he was too busy looking at Lydia with a touch of fear in his eyes.

Stiles frowned; it was one thing to witness Lydia with Jackson but it was quite another to see her hitting on his best friend.

“Okay, why don’t we all finish unpacking and then find something fun to do,” he said to break the tension in the room and also get Lydia away from Scott.

“For that we’d need to go back to civilization and people I actually want to spend time with,” Jackson said, still looking daggers at Scott. “But I suppose I can get drunk enough to forget this trip ever happened.”

“That’s the spirit,” Stiles told him. “Ever thought about being a cheerleader?”

“Fuck off, Stilinski,” Jackson shot back as he all but dragged Lydia from the room.

“Asshole!” Stiles muttered. “What about you two? You want to find something to do?”

Scott looked at him with wide eyes and started doing completely unsubtle gestures towards the door with his head. Stiles looked back in confusion until he noticed the fact that Allison had slipped her hand into Scott’s and was currently watching his attempts to get Stiles out of the room with amusement.

“Oh! You know what? I have to…study anyway,” Stiles said, backing towards the door. “We should wait until later to do something.”

“You brought studying with you?” Allison asked.

“Nope.” Stiles shook his head and was rewarded with a laugh and a blinding smile that made him understand why Scott had been falling all over himself to get close to her since that morning. 

He went back to his room and closed the door behind him. He looked at the creepy dolls and sighed. “All alone with you guys. Awesome.”

*-*-*-*-*

Harris glanced quickly around the control room to make sure that Kate was nowhere near before turning to Finstock. “We’d better put a stop to this pretty soon.”

“Huh?” Finstock was reading through a report.

“I know the virgin part of The Virgin isn’t actually necessary but _freshly screwed_ is probably going to be pushing it, especially when we’re already trying to claim that McCall is _The Scholar_.” Harris indicated the feed from Allison’s room.

Finstock blinked and looked at the screen which showed Allison and Scott making out on the bed. “Oh! Oh, wow! Yeah, we’d better do something about that. Huh, I guess she’s less innocent than she looks.”

Harris hit a few buttons and looked at the feed from Lydia and Jackson’s room where there was an argument in full swing over her earlier flirting with McCall. He pulled a microphone closer and said clearly, “Lets get this party started.”

His words went through the voice distorter and filtered into the room as a melodious female voice, slightly too low for the couple’s ears to pick up but enough that the suggestion would enter their subconscious.

Immediately the argument stopped and the couple blinked at each other for a moment before breaking out into matching smiles. 

Jackson opened the door and yelled, “Lets get this party started!” then threw a squealing Lydia over his shoulder and ran down the corridor banging on the other doors.

“Fucking students.” Harris shook his head as he watched everyone leave their rooms and head straight for the keg they’d brought with them. “I swear, it’s too easy.”

Finstock laughed. “Like you were never their age. Or, let me guess, you studied instead of going to parties?”

“Whereas you were the jock yelling ‘chug, chug, chug’?” Harris shot back with a smirk.

“Hell yeah!” Finstock said before tapping the cover of the report he’d been reading. “Hey, do you know what they came up with to lower Linda’s IQ?”

“Lydia,” Harris corrected automatically.

“Whatever.” Finstock waved a dismissive hand; he never remembered their names correctly. “They’ve put this chemical into her make-up. It’ll slowly sink into her skin and make her as dumb as a bag of rocks.”

Harris _had_ known this. In fact he’d spent some time in the labs studying the process as Chemistry had been his major when _he’d_ been at college.

“That’s not to mention what they’ve put in Bilinski’s ADD medication,” Finstock continued and Harris didn’t even bother to correct him this time. “Those science geeks…they really need to get laid.”

Harris raised an eyebrow at him. “Says the man who hasn’t had sex with another person since 2005.” 

“Hey!” Finstock sat up straighter and pointed his finger at Harris. “Sex lines workers totally count as another person!”

The door banged open and Kate ran into the room. “Japan’s failed!”

“Yeah, yeah, very funny, Kate.” Finstock laughed. “Japan never fails; the bastards have got a 100% record.”

“Look at my face, _Bobby_. Do I look like I’m fucking joking?” Kate snapped and hit a few buttons on the console to bring up the live feed from Japan.

They all stared at the screen showing five blood soaked young kids holding automatic weapons and knives. They were standing next to the corpse of a centipede the size of a house.

“Oh fuck you, adorable little Japanese children!” Finstock yelled at the screen and gave it the finger for good measure. “I loved the Omukade!”

“What about Brit…?” Harris started but Kate shook her head.

“They defeated the Mud Maids in 20 minutes.” She made a face. “Apparently it was some sort of record.”

“Christ!” Harris dropped back into his seat. “So it’s all down to us?”

Kate nodded while Finstock continued yelling expletives at the Japanese kids in the background. “We’re the last ones left.”

Harris took a deep breath. “Okay, we can do this. Finstock? Let’s get this party started!”

*-*-*-*-*

“Scott, truth or dare?” Lydia smirked at the boy sitting on the couch.

Stiles chuckled as Scott, who’d been staring at Allison in an adoring and slightly dazed manner, jerked his head up in surprise. “Um…dare?”

Lydia bit her lip and pretended to think. “I dare you…to make out with Jackson.”

“No way!” Scott and Jackson yelled at the same time and Stiles almost fell out of his chair laughing; it was possible that he’d had a little too much to drink.

“Oh, come on boys.” Lydia pouted prettily. “Give me something to think about later.” She looked at Jackson and gave him a saucy wink.

“But its _McCall_ ,” Jackson whined.

“I changed my mind; truth! I want truth!” Scott cried.

Allison shook her head. “There’s no take backs, Scott. It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else.”

“And it will help with the whole bonding thing you’re supposed to be doing,” Stiles managed to gasp out between giggles.

“Exactly!” Lydia nodded enthusiastically. “That is why we’re here, after all.”

“Fine!” Jackson grumbled before drinking the entire glass of beer in his hand in one gulp.

“Wait, what?” Scott just had time to say before Jackson hauled him off the couch and smashed their mouths together. 

Lydia eagerly climbed into Scott’s vacated space and cuddled against Allison as the two girls watched the proceedings with more interest than Stiles thought was strictly necessary. For his part, Stiles snapped a few photos on his phone for future leverage.

Jackson finally pushed Scott away from him with a disgusted look and wiped his mouth before he picked up Scott’s drink and downed that too. 

“My turn. Lydia…” He gave his girlfriend a sickly sweet smile. “Truth or dare?”

“Well, you know it’s going to be _dare_ ,” she replied.

“I dare you to give Stilinski a lap dance!”

Stiles bolted upright in his seat, instantly sober. “No! No, lap dances!”

“Aww, Stiles. Don’t you like me?” Lydia stood and sashayed over to his chair. “Don’t you think I’m pretty?”

Stiles swallowed hard. “You’re beautiful, Lydia, but I don’t think…oh, shit…that it’s a very good idea.”

Lydia climbed into his lap while he was talking and started to roll her hips from side to side. She then leaned forward to whisper in his ear. “I think it’s a great idea. Just stay there and let me make you feel good.”

Stiles gripped the arms of the chair in a white knuckled grip. It was like one of his fantasies come to life, except that in his fantasies he and Lydia were _alone_ not being watched by her boyfriend and two other people…also she wasn’t acting as strangely as she had been tonight. He closed his eyes and tried desperately to think of the most disgusting things he could in order to stop himself from reacting to her proximity and provocative movements.

“Having some trouble there, Stilinski?” 

Stiles’ eyes shot open again to look at Jackson giving him an amused smirk over yet another beer and...that was just weird. Jackson had always been a possessive bastard when it came to Lydia; anyone who so much as glanced at her when she came to watch practice ended up with a lacrosse ball to the head. So why was he suddenly encouraging her to give another guy a lap dance? And why was she doing it? There was something weird going…

His thoughts derailed as Lydia moved in just the ~~right~~ wrong, oh so wrong, way.

Suddenly there was a loud bang which distracted Lydia enough that she climbed back off him to investigate. Stiles couldn’t help the “Oh, thank god!” that came out of his mouth but luckily she wasn’t paying attention to him any longer. 

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and also surreptitiously adjusted his pants, before joining everyone else on the other side of the room; where they were all staring at the cellar door which had just opened all by itself. Stiles had seen way too many horror movies to believe _that_ was a good thing.

“The wind must’ve pushed it open,” Scott said and Stiles stared at him incredulously before looking pointedly out of the window where there definitely _wasn’t_ a monsoon going on.

“Maybe one of us should go down there and take a look around,” Allison pondered as she looked into the pitch black hole.

Stiles snorted. “Yeah, okay. And then we can read aloud from a strange book written in Latin before going skinny dipping in a dark and creepy lake.” 

“Well, the skinny dipping sounds like a good idea.” Jackson grinned, grinding up against Lydia’s ass while she giggled.

Stiles blinked at them, struck once more by how odd they were acting. “I think we should just close the hatch and forget…”

“Oh! I know!” Lydia cried excitedly. “Allison, truth or dare?”

Allison gave her a wicked smile and marched across the room to grab a torch. “Dare,” she said before turning on the torch and climbing down the steps into the cellar.

“Seriously?” Stiles shook his head in disbelief. “Does no one else think this is a bad idea?”

Lydia gave him a condescending pat on the arm. “It’s just a game, Stiles.”

“I don’t mean ‘truth or dare’, I mean the…” he waved his arm at the hole in the floor but before he could say anymore there was a scream emanating from said hole and they were all quickly running down there to save Allison from…her own reflection apparently.

She stood in front of the mirror, giving them all a sheepish look. “Sorry, I just scared myself. It’s pretty creepy down here.”

Stiles managed to find a light switch and turned it on, flooding the cellar with light and showing them the huge array of weird items stored down there.

“Wow, look at this place,” Scott said, walking over to a bench and picking up something which looked like an antique club.

Stiles glanced at the iron maiden shoved against one wall. “Yeah, it’s like Hell’s garage sale.”

Scott had moved on from the club and was studying a pack of playing cards. Jackson had started fiddling with what Stiles thought was an ornate puzzle box while Lydia was squealing over a trunk full of clothes. As for Stiles, he’d been distracted by the mirror which had scared Allison; he could swear that his reflection was actually moving a split second later than he was.

_'Choose something.'_

Stiles jumped and looked around him. For a moment there, he thought that he’d heard a woman whispering next to him but both Allison and Lydia were busy treasure hunting.

“Umm…I think we should go back upstairs now,” he said, backing up towards the steps.

“Hey guys, look at this.” Allison pulled a silver pendant out of the old fashioned jewellery box she’d been rummaging through. “It’s gorgeous.”

Scott took it out of her hand. “Is that a wolf? That is kind of cool.” Then he smiled at Allison and slipped the chain over her head. “It suits you.”

Stiles couldn’t explain it but, as soon as the pendant settled around Allison’s neck, an ice cold shiver ran down his spine.

*-*-*-*-*

“Werewolves!” Finstock yelled from his perch in front of the whiteboard as the rest of the room cheered. “Which means that the winners are…the IT guys! To the rest of you, better luck next year.”

Finstock gave everyone a final grin but the smile fell off his face as he walked over to Harris who was handing the winnings to the head of IT. 

He gave Finstock a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Bobby. Maybe next year.”

Finstock frowned. “He had the club in his hand! God, I’m _never_ going to get to see a real Orc!”

“To be honest, I think you’d be disappointed anyway,” Harris told him. “They look nothing like Peter Jackson’s version.”

Finstock gave a deep sigh and shook his head, apparently not going to be dissuaded from his belief that Orcs were cool. It probably didn’t help that he’d watched the Lord of the Rings movies almost every month that Harris had known him.

They walked into their control room where Kate was still monitoring the screens although she looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“Werewolves,” she said with a smile that a lesser man than Harris might have described as evil. She’d always had a weird thing about the werewolves. In fact, she’d orchestrated the capture of the two they used. “This is going to be fun.”

Harris nodded non-commitally and took a seat. “Do we know what’s going on with Stilinski? He’s definitely picking up on the fact that something’s not right and it looked like he actually heard the suggestion we planted in the cellar.”

“Yeah, I read what they added to his medication, the kid should be a dribbling wreck by now,” Finstock agreed.

“Wow, Bobby. You can read?” Kate smirked as she stood up. “I’m going to check in with downstairs, I’ll call in the labs on my way back and see what they say.”

“Bitch!” Finstock muttered once he was sure that Kate and her weapons were out of hearing.

“Cut her some slack, this one’s got to be hard on her,” Harris said but didn’t put his heart into it because the truth was that she really _was_ a bitch and everyone knew it.

“Whatever,” Finstock rolled his eyes. “Are we ready for the next stage?”

Harris looked up at the image of drunken teenage dancing on the monitors and nodded. “Releasing the pheromone gas now.”

*-*-*-*-*

Stiles shifted in his seat awkwardly as Jackson and Lydia’s dancing got ever lewder. He glanced towards the couch and was pleased to see that Scott and Allison looked equally uncomfortable with the sight in front of them.

“Man, there’s not enough beer in the world,” he muttered to himself as he made his way back to the keg for a refill. He paused halfway though pouring. “Does anyone else hear that hissing sound?”

Jackson stopped and tilted his head to one side. “Yeah, I hear it. It’s the sound of you sucking all the fun out of the room.”

Stiles sighed as Jackson and Lydia laughed uproariously. Maybe it was the beer that was making Jackson act even worse than usual. He looked into his glass suspiciously for a moment and when he looked back up it was to the sight of Jackson and Lydia making out. If it could be called making out; it was more like sex with their clothes on.

“Hey whoa, you two!” Allison said, her eyes wide. “Maybe you should take that somewhere a bit more private.”

Lydia hummed as she pulled back from shoving her tongue down her boyfriend’s throat and raised an eyebrow at him. “You know, I’ve always wanted to do it outside…under a full moon.”

“Is that right?” Jackson waggled his eyebrows and made a show of looking out of the window. “Well, it seems that your luck's in tonight.”

“It’s a full moon too?” Stiles said and looked for himself. “Oh, this is getting ridiculous!”

“Your face is ridiculous,” Jackson told him and he walked towards the door holding Lydia’s hand.

Stiles decided to be the bigger man and ignore the gibe. “Guys, I really don’t think you should go out there.”

“But I want to,” Lydia pouted. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“No, no, no, no!” Stiles pointed at her. “Don’t say stuff like that. That crap makes all kinds of badness happen.”

Jackson huffed. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Stilinski! Have some more beer; it might stop your whining.”

With that, the couple walked out, slamming the cabin door behind them.

Stiles spun around to face Scott and Allison. “You can see it, right? How strange they’re acting?”

Scott shrugged. “Not really; Jackson’s always a dick.”

Allison gave Stiles a small smile. “They’ve just had too much to drink. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

Stiles threw his arms up in frustration and then noticed that Scott was making that head gesture towards the door again. It made him look like a demented bobblehead.

He sighed. “Fine, I’ll leave but I’m stealing that Batman I know you packed!”

He stalked from the room and had the satisfaction of hearing Scott give a nervous laugh followed by, “He’s just kidding, I don’t read Batman. Only nerds read comics.”

An hour later, Stiles was sprawled across his bed, fully absorbed in the comic that Scott _had_ brought.  
 _  
'You want to go for a walk.'_

He fell off the bed in surprise and quickly jumped to his feet, spinning around frantically to see where the whisper came from.

“I definitely heard something that time,” Stiles yelled to the room, “and I know what you’re doing. You’re some crazy-ass ghost haunting this creepy cabin and trying to plant ideas in my head but it’s not going to work, you hear me? Because I’m smarter than some fucked up bunch of ectoplasm. I’m my own man, with my own thoughts and you can’t plant any subliminal messages in me, Casper!”

Stiles nodded and crossed his arms, pleased with himself for telling the ghost where to go. “Now…I think I’ll go for a walk.”

He grabbed his jacket and left the cabin, ignoring the dry humping couple on the living room couch. He stood outside and took a deep breath of the cool air, feeling better than he had all day now that he was outside. He glanced up at the moon; it was incredibly bright all the way out here in the forest. It was sort of calming actually.

“Stiles! Get back inside!” 

Stiles jumped and looked at Jackson running straight for him. “What…?”

“Get inside, now! They’re right behind me!” Jackson yelled, his voice full of panic, and Stiles looked past him to see two gold glowing things in the dark, moving closer.

“Where’s Lydia?” A cold feeling settled in Stiles’ stomach and he couldn’t take his eyes off the glowing things as they grew bigger and finally revealed themselves to be eyes. Big gold glowing eyes on the head of a big hairy, deformed looking man with claws and lots of very sharp looking teeth. “Jesus Christ!”

“Stiles! Move it!” Jackson had reached him and grabbed hold of Stiles jacket, pushing him back towards the cabin door. 

They fell through and both immediately started to look around for something to pile against it.

“Jackson!” Allison exclaimed in shock. “What are you…? Is that blood?”

Stiles glanced at the other boy and saw that he was in fact soaked in blood.

“Where’s Lydia?” Scott asked.

Jackson turned terrified and pain filled eyes on them. “She’s dead…it killed her and I couldn’t…”

Allison started shaking her head. “No…no, she’s not dead. You’re drunk, Jackson. She’s fine; we just need to find her.”

She ran over to the door and pulled it open before anyone could stop her and froze at the sight of the golden glowing eyes staring back at her from the porch. The man-monster started to growl at her then threw his head back with an almighty howl.

Stiles dived forward and pushed Allison out of the way before slamming the door shut again and leaning his weight against it. Jackson and Scott sprang into action, dragging the couch to block the door just as bangs started from the other side as if the monster was throwing himself against it.

“What the hell was that?” Scott pulled Allison against him and backed them both further into the room.

“A werewolf,” Jackson said. “It’s a goddamn werewolf and there’s another one too. Me and Lydia were…well, you know…and they appeared out of nowhere. One held me down while the other grabbed Lydia and…Jesus, it tore out her throat and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

The banging suddenly stopped and the four of them turned to stare at the door. Allison was shaking in Scott’s arms as silent tears run down her face for her lost friend but Stiles just felt numb, as if this wasn’t really happening. This _couldn’t_ be happening. _Fucking werewolves?_

“Do you think it’s gone?” Scott asked and then they all jumped as they heard another howl from right outside.

“The windows,” Stiles said. “We need to block up all the windows. Barricade ourselves in until the morning.”

“Right,” Jackson nodded. “Let's split up; we can do it quicker that way, cover more ground.”

“That makes sense,” Scott agreed.

Stiles looked at them both in disbelief. “Seriously?”

He didn’t get any further in his argument though because the front door suddenly burst open, sending the couch flying across the room. 

“Run!” Allison screamed as she began to sprint down the hallway. 

Stiles took off for the nearest room; his own. He barreled into the room, tripping over a table and smashing a vase on the floor next to him. The door slammed shut behind him of its own accord leaving him trapped in the room alone.

“Oh, this isn’t good,” he said, pushing himself to his feet.

He listened at the door and couldn’t hear anything from outside so he tried to turn the doorknob; it wouldn’t open.

“What the hell is going on?” He took a few steps back and looked down as something crunched beneath his feet; the broken vase. He went to lift his head again when something caught his eye. Crouching down, he pushed some bits of ceramic aside and picked up the piece of wire he’d spotted. A piece of wire, obviously attached to a small camera which had been hidden inside the vase.

“Someone’s filming us?” Stiles frowned at it and then gasped. “Oh my god, we’re on a reality show! Some…sick snuff show that rich perverts pay big bucks to watch!”

He tapped the camera. “Can you hear me, sickos? I hope you can because you need to know that I’m not going to die for your entertainment. In fact, I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Lydia. I’m going to hunt you down and…”

The bedroom window smashed as a hand _with claws_ reached in and grabbed hold of Stiles then dragged him outside, kicking and screaming.

He landed on the grass and quickly rolled over to see the werewolf standing over him.

“Oh, my god! Oh, god! I’m going to die and I never even got to see any naked boobs!” Stiles babbled then screamed as the wolf dug his claws into Stiles’ shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

The wolf bared his teeth with a growl and ducked its head towards to Stiles’ neck. Stiles let out a squeak of terror and closed his eyes, waiting for the bite which would kill him. He felt the teeth graze his throat and then pause as the werewolf sniffed at him. It gave another growl before Stiles felt it pull back. He opened his eyes in relief only to scream again as the werewolf dug his claws even deeper into Stiles’ shoulder and used them to drag him along the ground. 

The pain flared white hot for a moment and Stiles had just enough time to note that this werewolf’s eyes were red before he passed out.

*-*-*-*-*

Harris and Finstock stared solemnly at the screen as the werewolf dragged Stilinski across the forest floor. They didn’t even look up as Kate walked back in.

“The geeks in the lab think that the chemical in Stilinski’s medication has reacted with the stuff they put in the beer,” Kate said as she approached them. “Instead of dumbing his senses, they think it’s acting to make the kid even more aware of everything that’s going on.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Harris said, indicating the screen.

They all watched in silence as the werewolf pulled the unconscious boy into a ditch. One deadly claw lifted into the air and then swiped down, releasing a spray of blood.

Harris bowed his head. “This we offer in humility and fear. For the blessed peace of your eternal slumber. As it ever was.”

“As it ever was,” the other two intoned.

Finstock walked to the five levers on the wall and pulled the second one, releasing a steady trickle of blood to match the trickle beneath the first lever. The blood ran down the wall, through a hole in the floor, to fill the second figure carved in the wall on the level beneath them. 

“Two down…” Finstock said as he made his way back to his seat.

“We’re almost there.” Kate nodded.

*-*-*-*-*

Stiles came to, gasping, as a bucket of cold water was dumped over his head.

“Wake up,” said an unfamiliar voice. 

He blinked the water out of his eyes and stared up at the grumpy looking man standing above him holding the empty bucket.

“What…?” Stiles started and then broke off with a groan as the act of trying to sit up caused his injured shoulder to protest; vigorously. 

Then everything came rushing back to him; his shoulder, the werewolf, the camera, Scott, Lydia… He looked frantically around the small cave he appeared to be in and then back up at the man.

“How did I get here?” he asked. “Did you save me from the werewolf?”

The man smirked at him then, his eyes glowing red and holy fuck! This guy _was_ the werewolf.

“Shit!” Stiles scrambled back to get away from him and gave a yelp of pain as he jostled his shoulder again.

“Stop that!” the man said and leaned down to hold Stiles still. “Are you trying to make it worse?”

“What do you care? You’re going to kill me anyway.” Stiles paused and thought about it. “Why aren’t I dead already? Not that I _want_ you to kill me. I mean, if I’ve got a choice then living is a good choice. The best choice, really.”

The man growled and Stiles stopped talking with an ‘eep’.

“I’m not going to kill you, no matter how tempting you’re making it,” the man told him and Stiles frowned in confusion.

“But why? I mean…you’ve already killed Lydia,” he pointed out.

“Actually, no he didn’t,” said another voice, this one _very_ familiar.

Stiles head spun in the direction it came from so fast that he thought he might have given himself whiplash. His mouth dropped open as Lydia walked into the cave accompanied by another guy, this one about their age.

“I’m not dead,” Lydia said, needlessly considering she was standing right there in front of him.

Stiles blinked at her for a few moments and then regained control of his voice. “Jackson said you were dead. He said he saw you get killed.”

A flash of pain crossed Lydia’s face and the boy next to her put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I had to make it look real,” explained the man still crouched over Stiles and Stiles turned back to look at him, understanding beginning to dawn.

“Because of the people watching us.”

The man looked surprised as he nodded. “You know about them?”

Stiles shrugged and then winced in pain. “I found a camera in my room just before you dragged me out of it. Also, I kept hearing this voice. I couldn’t understand what it was saying but I’m pretty sure that it was trying to make us do stuff.”

The man studied Stiles with an almost impressed look in his eyes as Lydia hurried over to them.

“Stiles, you’re still in pain,” She turned to the man. “Derek, why isn’t he healing?”

The other boy joined them, sniffing the air. “Because Derek hasn’t bitten him yet.”

The man, _Derek_ , met their confused looks. “I’m not going to bite him. He’s more useful to us as a human.”

“Um…” Stiles broke into the stare-off. “Bite me?”

Lydia nodded then pulled her hair back to show Stiles a rapidly healing wolf bite on her neck; which pretty much explained why Jackson thought her throat had been ripped out. Then as Stiles watched, her eyes started to glow a gold colour.

“Lydia!” Stiles gasped and she grabbed his hand before he could try to get away from her.

“Its okay, Stiles. Well, not _okay_ because I would’ve liked some say in the matter.” She glared at Derek who didn’t really seem all that bothered by it. “But considering the alternative; what was supposed to happen to me tonight…this is better.”

Stiles frowned. “Someone needs to explain all of this because I’m really confused.”

With a nod, Lydia helped Stiles move until he was sitting against the wall of the cave and then sat next to him, holding his hand comfortingly. The boy, whose name was apparently Isaac, began to talk and Derek stood on the other side of the cave watching the three of them.

“It’s some kind of ritual. Every year, they lure five people, tributes, to the cabin and kill them one by one. The tributes have to pick what form of death they’ll meet by picking a certain object but they aren’t aware that they are doing it.”

 _The pendent_ , Stiles thought and briefly wondered what any of the other items in the cellar would’ve represented.

“This year you guys picked us and we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. The people in charge of the ritual and all of this…” Isaac waved his arm to encompass everything around them. “…they think that we’re mindless animals who will kill for the sake of killing but we’re not and we’re going to get revenge for what they’ve done to us. What they’ve done to all the people they bring here year after year.”

“So your plan was to turn the…the _tributes_ into werewolves like you instead of killing them?” Stiles asked but it wasn’t really a question.

Derek had that impressed look again but it disappeared so quickly that Stiles thought he must’ve imagined it. “We’re stronger in a pack. The more wolves there are in the pack the stronger we get.”

“Plus, if they think we’re dead then we have the element of surprise. Yay, us!” Lydia spoke confidently but Stiles noticed that she looked to Derek for confirmation that she was right and relaxed slightly at his nod. That was interesting.

“What about me?” Stiles asked. “Why am I more useful as a human and not part of your pack? Won’t you be stronger with me in it too?”

“Because you’re a virgin,” Derek answered matter of factly and Stiles instantly flushed bright red with embarrassment, refusing to look at Lydia. “It’s important to the ritual and I believe we can use it to our advantage.”

“A what?” Stiles tried to bluff his way out of it. “Dude, you really don’t know me. I may not look it but I am a ladies’ man in my prime.”

Derek’s lips twitched for an instant before he shook his head. “I’m a wolf, Stiles. I can smell when someone’s a virgin. I can also tell when someone’s lying to me, which is what you’re doing right now.”

Stiles squirmed and decided to quickly move things away from his sex life, or complete and utter lack thereof. “So what’s the next part of your plan?”

“You two stay here, while we go and get the others,” Derek replied as if it was obvious.

“No!” Stiles and Lydia both protested.

“You brought us into this fight, so let us fight,” Lydia said with a glare.

Stiles nodded. “These fuckers are trying to kill us, to kill our friends. We’re not going to just sit here twiddling our thumbs.”

Derek crossed his arms and glared at them. “Lydia isn’t at full strength yet and you’re injured, Stiles.”

“It’s not so bad!” Stiles protested and then spoiled it by trying to lift his arm and giving a yelp of pain. “Okay, so it’s bad. Did you really have to cut me quite so deep? I mean, considering that you need my help and all?”

Derek growled, his eyes flashing red again and Stiles felt all the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. “I was going to bite you; you would’ve healed from it quickly.”

But he hadn’t bitten Stiles because he smelled that Stiles was a virgin; which was all kinds of disturbing as far as Stiles was concerned and he really didn’t want to bring that part of the conversation up again.

“Okay but I’m not going to heal from it by morning and I’m assuming that I need to leave this cave eventually for your grand plan. I may as well leave with you now. I can still be useful; look, my other arm works just fine.” Stiles flailed his right arm around, almost hitting Lydia but she grabbed it with preternatural speed which made Stiles stare at her in shock.

“He does have a point,” Isaac said to Derek, then held his hands up when Derek growled again. “I don’t know what your new plan is but we’re going to need him when we get into the main complex, right?”

Derek glared at all of them before stalking out of the cave. Stiles and Lydia looked at Isaac, who just shrugged.  
“He does this,” he told them. “You get used to it.”

In the quiet that followed, Stiles turned to Lydia. “Why are you wearing that?” He motioned at the fact that she was dressed in only a man’s t-shirt.

She gave him a disdainful look. “Think back to the way Jackson and I were acting before we left the cabin, Stiles. Do you really need to ask where my clothes went?”

Stiles winced as he suddenly remembered what Jackson said he and Lydia had been doing when the werewolves attacked them. 

“Isaac kindly let me borrow this until we get to somewhere with decent shops,” Lydia sniffed haughtily then her expression changed to something almost vulnerable. “The weird thing is...I don’t know why I did that. I’ve never been the type of person who’d act that way; it was like someone else took control of my body.”

“I think they did it somehow; whoever is watching us,” Stiles told her softly. “They must have drugged you or something, to get you to do what they wanted you to do.”

Lydia frowned but didn’t have a chance to answer before Derek walked back into the cave.

“I’ve caught the scent of the other three,” he said. “They’re driving back towards the tunnel through the mountain.”

“Fantastic!” Stiles said excitedly. “They can drive to some form of civilization and get help. Bring the cavalry right down on these bastard’s heads.”

“They’re not going to get out,” Derek replied. “It’s the first thing everyone tries but you were trapped here the moment you entered the tunnel in the first place.”

Isaac explained, “That’s the doorway; the only way in or out of the valley and they’ll blow it up if they have to but they won’t let any of the tributes leave once you’re here.”

“When they realize that they can’t leave, they’ll have to stop and come up with a new escape plan,” Derek said, almost to himself. “Isaac, take Lydia and find out what that plan is. Make sure you’re not spotted, especially not Lydia. I’ll fix Stiles up and we’ll meet you there.”

Stiles straightened. “Fix me up? Are you hiding a first aid kit somewhere in this damp and dismal cave?”

Isaac grinned, probably at the fact that Derek had listened to him; Stiles had the feeling that didn’t happen very often. “Come on, Lydia. Let’s try out your new superpowers.”

Lydia squeezed Stiles’ hand before running after Isaac.

Stiles looked warily at Derek who was glowering down at him. “So…”

“Strip to the waist,” Derek told him.

“Huh?” Stiles answered intelligently. “Oh! To bandage up my shoulder, I got you. You know, your bedside manner could use a little work. Just saying.”

“Now!” 

Stiles took one look at the flashing red eyes and quickly began to do as ordered. Only to fall back against the wall with a hiss when even that jarred his injury. Derek let out an annoyed huff and dropped down next to Stiles to help; his gentle movements at odds with the irritated expression on his face.

When the layers were finally removed and Stiles was shivering in the cool night air, feeling not a little self-conscious, he looked expectantly at Derek. Derek didn’t make a move to go and fetch whatever medical supplies he had stashed away; instead he stared steadily at Stiles with an almost resigned expression.

“A werewolf’s saliva has healing properties,” he finally said. 

“O-kay.” Stiles gave him a confused look until he realized what that meant. “You’re going to _spit_ on me?”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I have to lick the wound. I’m an alpha wolf so it should start working quickly. There may be some…” Derek trailed off and narrowed his eyes at Stiles, sizing him up. “Actually, forget it. Let’s just get this healed.”

“There may be some _what_?” Stiles asked. “Is it going to turn me into a wolf? Is it the saliva that does it?”

“That would defeat the point of me not biting you in the first place, don’t you think?”

Stiles opened his mouth to ask more questions but snapped it shut again when Derek began to transform. His canines elongated, his fingernails grew into claws, hair sprouted on his face and his eyes turned red once more. It was, in a word, terrifying and Stiles felt his heartbeat pick up a few notches. 

Intellectually, Stiles knew that Derek wasn’t going to eat him. He needed Stiles for whatever the part of the plan he hadn’t felt the need to divulge yet actually was, but Stiles couldn’t help the fear he felt and he screwed his eyes shut as Derek leaned closer.

Then they flew open again as soon as Stiles felt Derek’s tongue slide against him, sending sparks of electricity shooting through his body. Jesus Christ! He was pretty sure that it wasn’t actually supposed to feel good what with the injury and the fact that it was a _scary werewolf_ licking him, but it did. It felt really, really good in a way that made Stiles wonder what that tongue would feel like in other places.

Whoa! He shook his head to clear it a bit because that wasn’t a good thought to have right now; in fact it wasn’t a good thought to have at any time and Stiles was pretty sure that Derek would rip his throat out if he knew. For the second time that night, Stiles found himself dredging his mind for the unsexiest images he could so as not to have an inappropriate reaction and, considering the situation they were all currently in, he kind of felt like he was losing his mind. Maybe it was all a byproduct of the fear which had been thrumming under his skin ever since he’d seen Jackson running towards him outside the cabin.

Derek pulled away and fixed Stiles with an inscrutable look before flinging Stiles clothes at him. “Get dressed; we need to leave now to catch up with Isaac and Lydia.”

Stiles held in the sigh of relief when Derek moved far enough away that he could think clearly again. He tested his shoulder and was surprised by how much better it felt already. Oh, it still hurt like hell burning but Stiles didn’t feel like he was going to pass out every time he moved it now and he actually managed to get his shirt back on by himself. He forewent the t-shirt though; that was definitely pushing it.

He gestured towards the entrance with his good arm. “Lay on, McDuff.”

By the time they reached the hiding position with a view of the small clearing by the tunnel, Stiles was half wishing that he’d gone with Derek’s original suggestion and stayed in the cave. He bent over with his hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. Trying to keep up with Derek was worse than Coach Winters’ suicide drills. He could only just about hear Derek, Lydia and Isaac’s conversation over the sound of his own panting.

“They actually did blow up the tunnel,” Isaac was saying, sounding incredulous. 

“And now Jackson’s got some crazy idea about jumping the ravine on his stupid trail bike,” Lydia added, her tone making it clear how much of a moronic idea she thought _that_ was.

“He won’t make it; he’ll hit the barrier before he reaches the other side,” Derek said.

“Barrier?” Stiles gasped, quite proud that he’d managed to get the three syllable word out when his lungs still felt like they were exploding.

“It circles this entire area,” Isaac told him. “You can’t see it but we can hear the hum of the electricity. If this Jackson guy touches that, he’ll be fried.”

“No!” Lydia choked out.

“I’m not going to let that happen. We need him in the pack.” Derek frowned at the three kids in the clearing standing around the bike. “Alright, I’ll grab Jackson. Isaac, you hide in the van and when you get the chance, take out the other boy…make it look convincing but be careful to leave the girl unharmed.”

“Scott,” Stiles panted. “Their names are Scott and Allison.”

The sound of the bike’s engine cut through the clearing and Derek cursed. “Isaac, go. You two stay here and don’t make a sound; no matter what you see.”

With that he took off through the trees and Isaac moved stealthily towards the van. Lydia and Stiles maneuvered themselves so that they had a clear view of Allison hugging Jackson before he circled the bike to get a better run up.

“ _Now_ , he decides to play the hero,” Lydia muttered but Stiles could hear the fear beneath her harsh words.

He reached out and slipped his hand into hers and she gripped it tight. Neither of them could tear their eyes away from Jackson as he revved the engine and prepared to drive straight at the ravine.

“Come on, Derek,” Stiles breathed.

Jackson took off as fast as he could and Lydia squeezed Stiles’ hand so hard that he could feel the bones grind together. The bike hit the slight incline at the edge of the embankment and soared into the air.

Lydia let out a broken sob but then a huge black shape launched itself from somewhere beneath Jackson and grabbed him in its huge white teeth, pulling Jackson from the bike and disappearing back down into the ravine.

Allison screamed and then Scott gave a yell of surprise as the still moving bike hit the barrier where it exploded in bright burst of sparks and briefly showed them the electrified grid that Derek and Isaac had mentioned. There was then lots of yelling as Allison and Scott ran back to the van and drove it out of the clearing so fast that they left an actual cloud of dust behind them.

Stiles and Lydia didn’t move, mainly because they were too shocked to do anything.

“What was that?” Stiles eventually whispered.

Lydia looked at him with wide eyes. “I think it was Derek.”

Stiles swallowed hard. “That was definitely _not_ what he looked like the last time he transformed.”

There was a howl to the right of them. Lydia immediately took off, running towards it, and Stiles could only see her in the distance as he followed. He burst through a copse of trees and skidded to a stop at the sight before him.

Jackson was lying on the ground, bleeding freely from the bite wound on his side. Lydia was on her knees cradling his head with tears running down her face.

“Lydia?” Jackson croaked as his body spasmed in pain.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re going to be fine, Jackson. I promise,” Lydia was murmuring to him over and over again as she stroked his hair. 

Stiles barely registered all of this, however. His eyes were fixed on the big, black wolf standing behind the couple. The wolf whose teeth were bloodstained and whose eyes were glowing a familiar red. He was staring back at Stiles just as intently and Stiles realized that he didn’t feel scared of him anymore. In this form, Derek was even more of a monster but Stiles had just watched him save Jackson and, no matter what Derek had said about it making the pack stronger, he somehow knew that Derek hadn’t done it purely for his big revenge plan.

Keeping his eyes fixed on Derek’s, Stiles slowly walked towards him. Derek tracked his approach but didn’t move away; instead he tilted his head to one side as if curious about what Stiles was doing. Stiles came to a stop directly in front of him and raised his hand, waiting for Derek to give some sign that he wanted Stiles to stop. When he didn’t, Stiles reached forward and ran his hand over the top of Derek’s head, dragging his fingers through the soft fur.

“Wow,” Stiles said quietly. “This is really weird.”

Derek gave a small growl which Stiles could feel vibrating up his arm.

“Not _bad_ weird,” Stiles defended his choice of words. “I just mean that you were a man a few minutes ago and now I’m stroking your fur. It’s weird…but also kind of awesome,” he decided.

The rumbling that Stiles felt this time was more of an appeased sound which Stiles took as permission to continue with his stroking; the fur really did feel soft and Stiles wondered if Derek used conditioner on it. Could he actually bathe in wolf form or was the softness a reflection of Derek’s normal hair? That then led him to trying to figure out where all the fur and extra mass actually went when Derek looked human.

Another wolf’s howl in the distance pulled Stiles from his contemplation and he watched as Derek began to shift in front of him. His mouth hanging open in, what he was sure was, a very unattractive way as he watched Derek turn from a huge wolf back into a man. A very naked man. A very attractive, naked man whose hair Stiles was still petting.

Stiles pulled his hand back as if it’d been burnt and stumbled a few steps away, trying to look everywhere but at Derek’s very appealing body.

“That was Isaac; he’s probably got your…Scott by now,” Derek said. “Lydia?”

Stiles spun around, shocked that he’d allowed himself to become so distracted that he’d completely forgotten about his two friends on the ground. 

Lydia was sitting with Jackson’s head on her lap; he was asleep and the pain lines on his face were definitely easing. When Stiles glanced at the bite mark he could see that it had already stopped bleeding and had crusted over as if the wound was already days old.

“I’ll stay with him,” Lydia told Derek. “I think he’ll probably wake up soon and then we’ll track you down.”  
“Howl if you get into any trouble. Stiles come on!”

With that, Derek disappeared into the trees and Stiles had to scramble after him.

*-*-*-*-*

The control room was packed with people and they were all silently staring at the live feed from inside the camper with varying degrees of nervousness.

“We should go back to the cabin,” Allison was saying from the passenger seat as McCall fought to keep the van driving straight over the rough forest terrain.

McCall shook his head. “No, we don’t know how many of them there are. One could be waiting for us there. We need to keep going and find a road out of here.”

“I don’t think we’re going to, Scott,” Allison said, her fingers gripping the edge of her seat so hard that her knuckles had turned white. “You saw the tunnel cave in, someone blew it up on purpose, and then that weird electric fence…someone’s keeping us here for these monsters to kill.”

“Smart girl,” Harris murmured and got an approving look from Kate.

One of the people standing in front of the screen gasped as they spotted a dark shape moving in the back of the van, behind Scott and Allison.

“Here we go,” Finstock announced, leaning forward in his seat in anticipation.

“…barricade ourselves in the cellar,” Allison was saying. “The door’s heavy and I don’t think these things will be able to get through it.

McCall took his eyes off whatever semblance of a road he was following and gave her a look. “But what if it doesn’t? We’ll be trapped with no way out. They’ll rip us apa…”

The rest of what McCall was saying disappeared into a pain filled wail as the wolf that had been hiding in the back of the van suddenly pounced, sinking its teeth into McCall’s neck and dragging him backwards over the seat.  
Allison screamed and lurched across the seats to grab the wheel, trying with difficulty to steer it from where she was sitting. The van abruptly pulled to the left, heading straight into a denser part of the woods. The wolf leapt forward again, grabbing Allison in its claws but she pulled herself free just as the van hit a tree. The impact threw her forward and she bashed her head on the dashboard, knocking herself out cold.

The wolf stood there for a moment, sniffing the air, its eyes glowing gold before it turned and picked up McCall, exiting the van and running deep into the trees with its prize.

Finstock stood from his seat, walked to the wall and pulled the fourth lever to release the trickle of blood just as the room erupted into cheers.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and goodnight!” Finstock yelled, throwing his arms into the air and garnering applause from everyone.

Kate stood and strode over to a cupboard in the corner. She grabbed a rifle from it and swung it over her shoulder before checking the other weaponry she was already wearing. 

“I’m going up,” she said to Harris who nodded at her before she ran out of the room with a couple of men from security on her tail.

Harris felt a beer being pushed into his hand and realized that the party had already begun. He chuckled as Finstock ran over and slung an arm over his shoulder.

“Man, I thought we were in trouble with that tunnel,” Finstock said and Harris nodded in agreement. 

Setting off the strategically placed explosives had been a last resort. Originally they were going to initiate a landslide in front of the tunnel, not destroy the entire thing completely, but those charges hadn’t gone off. Harris idly wondered how they were going to clear and rebuild a new tunnel in time for the next Ritual but that was maintenance’s job not his.

“I don’t understand,” a young intern said nearby as she stared in confusion at the screens. “Why is everyone celebrating now? The last girl is still alive.”

“The Virgin doesn’t actually have to die,” Harris told her, “she just has to suffer. Her anguish is as essential to the ritual as the death of the other tributes.”

“She’s a _virgin_?” the girl asked incredulously, no doubt having seen the earlier footage of Allison with McCall.

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a virgin in college these days?” Finstock laughed and waggled his eyebrows as the girl flushed. “We have to move with the times so allocating the title is enough. You really think that McCoy was a ‘scholar’? The kid was only in college because he was on a sports grant. It’s a shame really; he and Whittleby were pretty damn good; good enough to win if they'd got their asses in gear.”

“Um…I don’t think those were actually their names,” the girl tried to point out but Finstock ignored that as he moved his arm from Harris’ shoulders to hers.

“You like lacrosse? Because, I have to tell you, I was a hell of a player. Could’ve coached college myself if I didn’t get this job instead…”

Harris drifted away from Finstock’s attempt at flirting with a girl far too young for him and looked around the room in satisfaction. 

They’d done it.

*-*-*-*-*

It hadn’t been any easier to keep up with Derek this time but Stiles ignored the burning in his lungs as he fell to his knees next to his best friend’s unmoving form.

“Scott? Come on, man, wake up!”

Isaac was hovering above them looking concerned. “I avoided hitting any arteries but he’s still lost a lot of blood.”

Stiles looked up at him. “Why isn’t he healing like Jackson?”

“Because Isaac’s bite won’t turn him,” Derek said. “Only an alpha’s bite can change someone.”

He pushed Stiles, none to gently, to one side so that he could get to Scott. He ripped Scott’s shirt open and lifted the upper part of his body. Stiles held his breath as he watched Derek partially shift and then sink his teeth into the flesh of Scott’s shoulder. As he watched that Stiles realized that his own shoulder had actually stopped hurting a while ago.

Scott gave a pained moan and then began to twitch all over, just as Jackson had earlier.

“He's going to be fine,” Derek told him, pulling back and laying Scott back on the ground. “He’ll begin healing as soon as his body stops trying to fight off the effects of the bite.”

Stiles’ shoulders slumped in relief. Scott had been his best friend ever since their first day at kindergarten, when he’d given Stiles his Smurf to play with after Stiles had fallen and scraped his knee. They’d been together through Stiles’ mum passing away, Scott’s parent’s divorce, the trials and tribulations of high school and even gone to the same college; Stiles didn’t know what he’d do if Scott died.

“What about the girl?” Derek asked Isaac.

There was a pause long enough to make Stiles rip his eyes away from Scott and look up at Isaac instead. He was staring at Stiles’ hand which had, without Stiles permission, grabbed hold of Derek’s arm during the whole biting part of the proceedings and had yet to let go. Stiles loosened his grip as casually as he could manage and used the hand to push Scott’s hair off his forehead. The darkly amused look Derek shot him let Stiles know that he hadn’t quite managed the casual part and he stuck his tongue out at Derek in retaliation.

Isaac looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment before finally answering Derek’s question. 

“She’s still in the van. She’s unconscious but, apart from a knock to the head, I couldn’t sense any serious injuries.” At Derek’s growl he defended himself. “It wasn’t my fault, I swear, they were headed straight for another part of the barrier so I had to bite Scott before he killed us all. Then the girl steered the van into a freaking tree! I tried to pull her out of harm’s way but she was panicking and it was like trying to grab hold of an eel!”

Scott groaned and put a stop to the conversation when his eyes fluttered open. “Stiles?”

“Hey, buddy,” Stiles said, leaning over him with his best attempt at a smile. “About time you woke your lazy ass up.”

Frowning, Scott struggled to sit up but Stiles put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Wha’ happ…I thought you… _Stiles_?”

“It‘s kind of a long story,” Stiles told him, “but I’m fine. So are Lydia and Jackson and we’re going to go and get Allison right now.”

“Oh god, Allison!” Scott gasped and re-doubled his movements to get up. “She…there was a monster in the van and…”

Stiles leaned down conspiratorially, “I wouldn’t call them monsters if I was you, I don’t think they like it.”

“Stiles stop wasting time,” Derek snapped, his eyes flashing briefly but it was enough to cause Scott to start panicking again beneath Stiles’ hands. “We need to go get the girl, Isaac can fill your friend in.”

“Dude, bedside manner, we’ve talked about that.” Stiles glared at him but kept his voice gentle as he spoke to Scott. “Scott, wait here. I’ll be right back and I’ll have Allison with me, I promise. You just need to stay here and regain your strength…and listen to what Isaac’s about to tell you because it’s really important.”

Scott looked like he didn’t actually believe that Stiles would come back but it was a testament to their long friendship, and the pain he must’ve been in, that he just nodded his head. Stiles pushed himself to his feet and began to follow Derek but Scott’s voice made him look back.

“Stiles…why aren’t you wearing any pants?”

Stiles glanced down at his bare legs and then over at his pants which were currently adorning _Derek’s_ legs. After tripping over for the fourth time during the run here because his eyes kept drifting to Derek’s ass instead of watching the ground for hazards, Stiles had refused to take one more step until Derek covered up. He’d offered to give Derek his boxers but Derek had snagged the pants instead with a growl and now Stiles was stuck running around the forest in his favorite pair of SpongeBob boxer shorts. 

He caught Derek’s smirk and flipped him the bird before storming off in the direction they’d been headed in without even answering Scott. If he died looking like this, he was going to come back and haunt someone. He wasn’t sure exactly who yet, but it would definitely be someone.

The two of them walked in silence until Stiles could see the smashed van in the distance then Derek made him stop with a hand on his shoulder and pulled them both behind a tree.

“This girl, Allison, how well do you know her?” Derek asked quietly.

Stiles blinked at him for a moment. “I don’t. I mean, she’s Lydia’s friend; I just met her today…or yesterday by now, I guess.”

Derek nodded. “So she just suddenly joined your group out of nowhere?”

“Firstly, there is no ‘group’. We’ve never been friends this was just…a thing to get Jackson and Scott to stop arguing during lacrosse,” Stiles told him, still confused as to why they were suddenly having this conversation. “Lydia and Allison decided to tag along…but I think they’ve both been friends for years.”

Derek hummed as he thought that over.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked him.

For a moment Stiles thought Derek wasn’t going to reply but then, “She’s not to be trusted. We need her, which is why we’re going to get her out of that van and take her back to the others, but don’t let your guard down around her. Not for a second, Stiles.”

“What? That’s ridiculous,” Stiles said. “Why shouldn’t we trust her? She’s been chucked into this hell just like the rest of us.”

“She’s not like the rest of you,” Derek replied, glaring around the tree and at the van. Stiles realized why a moment later when he risked a glance and saw Allison pulling herself out of the wreckage.

“Derek…” Stiles began but Derek spoke over him.

“Just stop arguing for once and believe what I’m telling you. I caught her scent, at the cabin when I dragged you out; I know that scent.”

Stiles frowned; what the hell did that mean? He was really beginning to get sick of Derek holding information back. Before he could voice his displeasure though, Derek pushed him up against the tree.

“Stay here while I get her. There are going to be cameras in that van and we don’t want anyone to know that you’re alive yet.” His eyes flashed red. “Do you understand?”

Stiles nodded, trying to keep his mind on the situation at hand and not the effect that Derek’s proximity was having on him. Who knew that being shoved up against things could be that hot _and what the hell was wrong with him?_ They were in a literal life or death situation. There were rituals and people trying to kill them and actual fucking werewolves and Stiles kept being distracted by this wholly inappropriate crush he’d seemed to have developed.

Then his mind suddenly flashed back to the cave; to Derek and something he had almost said before licking his wound to heal it.

_'There may be some…'_

Side effects, Stiles mentally filled in now. There were side effects to the healing.

“What did you do to me?” he whispered and a flicker of guilt crossed Derek’s face because he apparently knew exactly what Stiles was talking about.

“Stay here!” Derek growled instead of answering the question and was gone between one blink and the next.

Stiles took a few deep breaths, trying to get his equilibrium back, before ducking down to watch Derek approach Allison. He still didn’t really get why Derek was so determined not to trust her but he’d just have to add that to the million and one other things he didn’t understand right now.

Allison had managed to get hold of a long piece of metal from somewhere inside the van and her hand kept clenching around it as she franticly scanned the surrounding area. Stiles saw Derek circle around her, keeping out of sight and not making a sound. Not until he was directly behind her, then he started to growl lowly.

Allison froze then slowly turned around to see the red eyes glowing from within the darkness of the trees. Derek leapt forward and Allison launched the piece of metal at him, with uncanny accuracy, before running away as fast as she could. Derek, like Stiles, had apparently expected her to use the weapon as a club to hit him when he got closer so didn’t duck quite in time and the impact surprised him enough that he fell back. Stiles would’ve laughed at the expression on Derek’s face but he suddenly realized that not only was Allison headed directly towards him but that he’d just heard twigs snapping somewhere nearby. Someone else was there.

He took a moment to panic and then leapt to his feet and grabbed Allison as she ran past his hiding spot. With one arm around her waist and his other hand covering her mouth to stop her from instinctively screaming he tried to pull her back but she instantly began to struggle; kicking at his legs and poking her really bony elbows into his stomach.

“Ow, fuck! Allison stop, it’s me. It’s Stiles!” he hissed and she spun her head to look at him with wide eyes before melting back against him in relief.

Removing the arm from her waist, he held a finger up to his mouth to indicate that they should be quiet. Only when she nodded did he take his hand away from her mouth, grabbing her hand instead to pull her to his hiding place.

“Stiles! Oh my god, I thought you were dead!” she whispered as they hunkered down behind the tree.

“It takes more than this freaky shit to get rid of me,” he murmured back as he strained to see where the hell Derek was. “Listen, there’s stuff you need to know. The werewolves? They’re on our side.”

“What?” She looked at him like he was crazy. “They’ve been chasing us all night. They’ve killed everyone except for me and you! Did you not see that…that _thing_ just attack me?”

Stiles shook his head. “He wasn’t really going to attack you. There are cameras everywhere, people watching us and wanting us to die; he just had to make it look good and then he was bringing you right here to me.”

Allison looked confused. “But I saw it kill Scott…”

“That wasn’t Derek, that was Isaac and Scott’s fine.” Stiles probably could be explaining things a little better but he was mostly concerned about the fact that Derek hadn’t joined them yet, especially because he _had_ to have heard the sound of other people too.

He looked back towards the van and saw that Derek was just standing there with his arms crossed, glaring at the trees around him. 

“I know you’re there,” he said and a moment later three people stepped out into the small clearing.

“Kate!” Allison exhaled happily, her face breaking out into a smile as she moved to stand up. “She’s here to rescue us!”

Stiles caught hold of her hand to stop her; he had a very bad feeling about this. Allison frowned and tried to pull away but stopped when she heard Derek say “Hello, Kate.” Then she looked back out at the clearing in confusion.

“It’s been a while, Derek,” the Kate woman said as she sauntered closer to the werewolf. “Look at you all grown-up. Didn’t you fill out in just the right places?”

Derek growled at her, eyes flashing, and she just grinned while she adjusted the rifle in her hand to point right at him. “Now, now, no need to be rude. Or maybe you’re just flirting with me. Is that it? Do you remember how much I used to like it when you got all growly when we were together?”

The two men who were with Kate moved to stand either side of Derek, also with their weapons pointed at him. There were fine tremors running through Derek as he obviously made an effort to keep himself under control in the face of the threats surrounding him. 

“I remember you seducing an underage boy in order to trick him into becoming a monster,” Derek replied after a moment. “I remember you _killing my entire family_ to ensure that happened.”

Kate gave a delighted laugh. “That was a fun night. I always did like a good bonfire and all that screaming…it was almost like music, wasn’t it?”

Stiles flinched as he suddenly understood that Derek’s revenge wasn’t just about these people locking him up. He heard a stifled gasp from next to him and turned to see Allison with one hand over her mouth, staring at Kate in horror. He put his hand on Allison’s arm and she reached down to grip it blindly.

“Oh, turn that frown upside down, puppy,” Kate was cooing at Derek. “We’ve given you a decent life; food, water, a little friend to keep you company and, occasionally, the chance to hunt with absolutely no repercussions. You _have_ enjoyed tonight, haven’t you?”

“Oh my god!” Allison whispered, squeezing Stiles’ hand even tighter.

“Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it.” Stiles had to bite back a smile at the dark humour he could hear in Derek’s voice, humour which went over the heads of everyone else there. “The little Argent…she’s Chris's kid, right? You’re too much of a selfish bitch to ever be a mother. Does she know that her aunt sent her here like a sacrificial lamb?”

Kate was Allison’s aunt? Christ! Stiles knew that Derek was doing this on purpose, that he knew he and Allison were listening and was giving them all the information they needed about Kate.

Derek chuckled at the hard look which had taken over Kate’s face. “She has no idea, does she? She hasn’t a clue what her family is…what they do.”

“She’s a strong kid; that’s why she was chosen to do this,” Kate said. “I had to do it when I was her age.”

“Because that didn’t fuck you up and turn you into a murdering psychopath,” Derek shot back.

Kate flushed with anger for a moment before getting control of herself and giving Derek a truly evil smile. “As nice as all this catching up has been, Derek sweetheart; the tributes are already dead, The Virgin has suffered…the ritual’s done. Your job’s over which kind of makes you expendable now, don’t you think?”

Kate’s rifle, which she had dropped to her side during the mutual taunting session, rose once more to point directly at Derek’s heart.

Stiles felt his stomach drop. “No!” he breathed.

*-*-*-*-*

The party in the control room was in full swing. Harris had swapped out his beer for a vodka and coke and was laughing with the munitions guys as they acted out the total panic their boss had been in when he realized that the wiring for the landslide hadn’t worked. He almost wished that he’d been there to see the normally patronizing bastard literally fall out of his chair.

He looked over to the other side of the room where Finstock had regained his plastic sword, as well as finding a cloak from somewhere, and was now acting out segments of the Lord of the Rings with the IT guys, who were riding high on their werewolf win and were also in varying states of improvised costumes. Harris shook his head; it was really no wonder that Finstock was still single.

“You know it wouldn’t have happened if Chris had been here,” Bob, one of the munitions guys, said as Harris tuned back into their conversation. “He always double-checks all the explosives himself.”

Tony nodded his head in agreement. “Don’t know what management was thinking, sending him away this week of all weeks.”

“Maybe they thought that he wouldn’t want to watch his little girl possibly get killed.” One of the women from personnel suddenly joined them with that all-knowing expression people seemed to get on their faces when they had gossip they were just bursting to share. 

“Sylvia…” Harris frowned at her. The Allison Argent situation was supposed to be confidential but apparently the woman assumed that the fact The Ritual was over meant that she could tell everyone. 

“Wait.” Tony tilted his head in confusion. “Are you saying that one of the tributes was Chris Argent’s daughter? Which one?”

Bob smacked him upside the head before saying, “The Virgin, obviously. The Argents aren’t going to send one of their own in with no way for them to survive.”

He looked at Harris for confirmation but Harris just raised an eyebrow at him. He knew better than to confirm or deny anything about this.

“That hot piece of ass is Chris’s girl?” Ethan gave a laugh. “Maybe they just didn’t want Chris to see how _virginal_ she’s not. I thought she was going to do that idiot kid right there on the sofa.”

Everyone chuckled at that before Tony gave a low whistle. “Can you imagine sending your own daughter into that hell? That’s cold, man.”

“Oh, Chris has no idea,” Sylvia told them, completely ignoring the disapproving look Harris was giving her. “I think that’s the real reason why he got sent away on that mission this week.”

“Are you fucking with us?” Bob said incredulously and when Sylvia shook her head the entire group began to look uncomfortable. 

Harris thought this was a good time to lead the conversation to something safer and he was just about to do that when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Finstock suddenly freeze mid-war cry. 

He turned to see what was happening when he heard it too; the red phone was ringing. It was the direct line to downstairs and Harris had never heard it ring before. Finstock had told him that he’d only heard it once, just before Harris’ predecessor was terminated. Permanently.

Harris met Finstock’s eyes which were mirroring his own shock.

“Stop the music!” Harris yelled as Finstock slowly made his way to the phone.

Someone did as Harris demanded and everyone in the room began to whisper amongst themselves as they realized what was going on.

“Yes, sir,” Finstock said professionally into the phone, as if he wasn’t a doofus dressed up as a warrior from Middle Earth. “All the parameters have been met…I’m sorry, I don’t understand…” His eyes shot back to Harris’. “Which one?”

Harris’ stomach turned over as he guessed at what was going on. He spun to look at the screens which had continued to play in the background of the party, ignored by everyone. His eyes quickly tracked over them all, there was only movement on one of them which appeared to show Kate holding one of the werewolves at gunpoint. His shoulders had just dropped in relief, believing his guess to be wrong, when Kate suddenly jerked before she dropped unconscious to the ground revealing Stilinski standing behind her, wielding a large tree branch.

“Fuck!” Harris cursed as Finstock came to stand beside him. 

Silently, they watched the werewolf burst into action, ripping the throats out of the two security men on either side of him; those idiots really should’ve known better than to stand so close to any of the creatures.

“We are so dead,” Finstock said.

There was a loud bang to the right of them and they turned as one to see Chris Argent standing in the, now open, doorway looking like the dictionary definition of wrathful.

“We really are,” Harris agreed.

*-*-*-*-*

Stiles tried to drag his eyes away from the blood that Derek was wiping from his torso but he felt like he was rooted to the spot. “You killed them.”

“They were going to kill _us_ ,” Derek replied, throwing the rag he was using, aka. a sleeve he’d ripped off one of the dead men, onto the ground. “What the hell were you thinking, Stiles?”

“She was going to shoot you!” Stiles said indignantly. “I was thinking that I should stop her from doing that!”

“I had it under control,” Derek snarled.

The anger that suddenly coursed through Stiles at the lack of gratitude finally allowed him to move and he waved his arms around as he spoke. “Let me guess, werewolves can heal from a bullet to the chest too. Well excuse me for not knowing that and trying to help.”

Derek glared at him for a moment longer before his eyes cut to the side. “No, I wouldn’t have healed. Not from her bullets.”

Stiles paused. “Silver bullets?” 

“No, moron; this isn't the movies,” Derek rolled his eyes. “She has wolfsbane ones….they’re poison to us.”

“Right, not good.” Stiles nodded before turning to Allison who was on her knees next to her unconscious aunt. “Allison, we need to take all her bullets.”

With the amount of werewolves now in the group, the last thing they needed was one of them getting poisoned.

Allison looked up at him blankly for a moment and then a determined look crossed her face before she emptied Kate’s gun and began searching her pockets for more. Derek and Stiles collected the weapons of the two dead men, not without Stiles gagging a few times at the sight of what Derek had left of them, and then the three of them quickly left the clearing with Derek in the lead.

Stiles handed Allison one of the handguns he’d gathered and stared Derek down when the man gave him a disapproving look. Allison hadn’t known about any of this, so Derek’s previous doubts about trusting her had been wrong as far as Stiles was concerned. 

When they reached Scott and Isaac they discovered that Lydia and Jackson had joined them. Allison let out a cry of relief and rushed forward to hug Lydia, checking her over to make sure she was unharmed.

“We need to move,” Derek told them all, ignoring the girls’ reunion. “They know Stiles is still alive and are going to be coming after him hard.”

“Shit!” Isaac cursed. “There goes the plan to hit them while their defenses are down.”

“There’s actually a plan?” Jackson snarked but he instantly lowered his eyes when Derek growled at him.

Stiles blinked in surprise; he’d never seen Jackson back down from anyone except Lydia. Then again, he’d never seen Lydia look to someone for approval the way she had with Derek back in the cave. He looked at Derek consideringly; it must be something instinctive, something to do with the fact that Derek was the one to bite them. Perhaps that also had something to do with the way Stiles kept reacting to Derek since Derek had healed him.

“We have to go down. Otherwise we’re going to get cornered out here and all of this will have been for nothing,” Derek continued as if Jackson hadn’t interrupted.

“Down?” asked Scott.

“There’s a huge complex beneath us,” Isaac explained. “It’s where we were imprisoned and it’s the main headquarters for the people who run this whole thing.”

“Beneath us? Seriously?” Stiles looked at the ground as if he’d suddenly be able to see something other than dirt.

There was a gasp and they all turned to look at Allison who was staring at Lydia in horror. While the rest of them had been talking, Lydia had been catching Allison up on everything she’d missed. From the fact that Lydia’s eyes were doing that glowing thing, Stiles figured that they had reached the ‘oh, and we’re all werewolves now’ part of the conversation.

“This is all my fault,” Allison said, taking a couple of steps back. 

Scott immediately rushed forward but Allison put a hand out to stop him from wrapping his arms around her.  
“Why would you think this is your fault?” he asked looking confused.

“Because my family is doing this.” She looked at Derek. “It is isn’t it? Not just Kate…you knew my dad’s name.”

“Yes.” Derek nodded and her face crumpled.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jackson’s eyes were glowing as he glared at Allison and his nails had grown into claws. “Your family? They’re the ones trying to kill us?”

Scott moved so that he was between Jackson and Allison and he had begun to transform too. “Back off, Jackson. She obviously didn’t know.”

“How do you know that?” Jackson growled. “She could’ve been in on it from the start.”

“Would she be here if she had been?” Scott shot back. “Who would choose this?”

“Enough!” Derek snapped and both boys slowly backed away from each other.

“They sent me here,” Allison was muttering to herself, apparently oblivious to the almost death match that had happened in front of her. “Kate said I was chosen to be here. Oh god, my parents…are they watching this? Are they sitting there, watching to see if I get killed..?”

Lydia walked up to Allison and slapped her hard across the face before grabbing hold of her chin and forcing Allison to look at her. “You’re not going to die. None of us are; we’re going to fight and then get the hell out of here. I don’t know if your parents are involved but if they are then they are the monsters and they don’t deserve to have you as their daughter anymore. Don’t give these people the satisfaction of watching you break and make this group weaker. You’re better than that; I know you are.”

Allison’s eyes cleared as the pain from the slap and Lydia’s words brought her back from her mini breakdown. As Stiles watched he could see determination settle over Allison’s face once more.

“Yes, I am. Thanks,” she added.

“No problem,” Lydia told her brightly then she spun around to face Derek. “So, how do we actually get down to this complex?”

Stiles, and Isaac he noticed, stared at Lydia in awe while Derek gave some sort of prideful smirk. As if he was somehow responsible for her behavior which Stiles, from a couple of years of Lydia-watching, could tell him he definitely wasn’t. 

“We should avoid the main elevators down as they’ll be monitoring them by now,” Derek said. “So we’ll go down the same way that Isaac and I came up; they won’t be expecting that.”

“Why not?” Stiles asked.

“Because it’s going to take us directly through the beast holding cages.” Derek shrugged.

“Whoa! Wait one second!” Stiles pointed a finger at Derek. “The beast holding cages? Where they keep…you know…”

Derek stared at Stiles’ flailing hand and raised an eyebrow at him. “All the monsters? Yes.”

“Are they going to attack us?” Scott took a step closer to Allison and Stiles rolled his eyes at the movement.

“Not us,” Derek told him. “But they will try to get to the humans. This is why we’re going to make sure they are protected at all times. Isaac, Scott and Lydia are in charge of keeping Allison safe while me and Jackson have got Stiles’ back.”

“What?” Stiles and Jackson said at the same time.

“That’s not such a great idea,” Stiles pointed out. “Jackson pretty much wanted to kill me when he was still human and now he has, like, super killing powers.”

Jackson gave an evil smirk and waved his clawed hands at him, causing Stiles to back up a few steps.

Derek immediately stood between them, his red eyes flashing at Jackson. “Jackson’s not going to hurt you. In fact he’s going to do everything in his power to keep you alive. Isn’t that right, Jackson?”

Jackson looked at the ground, his face flushing with impotent anger. He mumbled something which Stiles didn’t catch but Derek’s shoulders relaxed a little so Stiles took it to be an affirmative. This whole ‘Jackson must obey Derek’ thing was getting to be fun, Stiles thought as he poked his tongue out at Jackson from behind Derek. 

Derek caught him and let out an exasperated sigh but Stiles could also see the twitching at the corner of Derek’s mouth so he counted it as a win.

“Look, there shouldn’t be a problem as the monsters will still be in their cells. This is more of a precautionary measure,” Derek told the group. “Although, I would keep an eye out for some of them trying to entice Stiles or Allison into letting them out.”

Stiles gave Derek a look at that. How stupid did he think Stiles was? He spotted Allison giving Derek a similar look and they both exchanged a small smile.

The entrances that Derek and Isaac led them to turned out to be two big holes in the ground, either side of the cabin. Even after they had split up, Stiles could hear Lydia complaining about getting dirt all over her and he grinned to himself. 

Derek waited until the three of them had jumped into the hole before touching something on the wall of earth next to him. There was a slight whirring sound and the ground began to move beneath Stiles’ feet. He leapt to one side with a yelp and saw that a there was now an opening there, big enough for a person to get through.

Derek motioned for Stiles to go first and when he hesitated, because climbing into black holes was never good, Derek rolled his eyes and physically pushed him into it.

He landed with an _oomph_ on a smooth black surface. At first he thought he was in an entirely black room until he looked up when Jackson climbed down and could see earth above them and along the tops of the walls; that was when he realized that they were actually in some sort of transparent box. 

As soon as Derek dropped down next to them he hit another button on the wall, causing the hole in the roof to slide shut and a light to fill the box. It was about the size of Stiles’ bedroom back at college but there were no doors; nothing except the smooth surface that wasn’t glass but definitely wasn’t plastic either. They were obviously moving but, once the earth above them disappeared into the distance, they were surrounded by complete darkness; it gave the impression that they were just floating there.

“Look, over there.”

Stiles jumped at Jackson’s voice, the only sound there’d been since Derek had shut the hole in the roof. He spun around to see that Jackson was pointing at, a dim light in the distance which was steadily getting brighter as it moved closer to them – or them to it; it was hard to tell.

It was another box, exactly like the one they were in except this box was filled with a black fog. Stiles stepped closer to the wall as they appeared to dock against the other box, trying to see what the fog was. When he was close enough to touch the surface, the fog suddenly began to swirl and threw itself against the wall on its own side, clearing revealing screaming faces within its depths.

“Shit!” Stiles stumbled back in horror and fell onto his ass on the floor. “What the fuck is that?”

“What the fuck is _that_?” Jackson replied, staring at the wall behind Stiles.

Stiles looked over his shoulder to see what looked like an ordinary family sitting around a table, which had been laid out for dinner. Only none of the family had faces; just smooth skin where their faces should be.

Their box began to move again until it came to a stop between two new cells; because that’s what these boxes were, the cells that Derek had mentioned.

One side showed them a clown, holding balloons and looking far too much like Pennywise for Stiles’ peace of mind so he quickly looked to the other side to see a small girl. She couldn’t have been more than 7 years old and she had tears rolling down her face. Stiles’ heart broke as he faintly heard her through the walls, begging him to help her. He ran forwards but Derek’s arm shot out, snagging him around the waist and pulling him back.

“What the fuck, man?” Stiles cried out as he struggled against the hold. “She’s just a kid.”

“Look,” Derek said into his ear.

Stiles looked back at the girl and recoiled as he saw her open her mouth, far wider than any person should be able to, and a clawed hand emerged from it, reaching for them.

Stiles slumped against Derek. “Enticing me and Allison to let them out. That’s what you meant when you said that.”  
He could feel Derek’s stubble scrape his cheek as the other man nodded. “That was mild; some of them can hypnotize you if you look at them for too long.”

“Christ, this is so fucked up!” Stiles muttered.

“You can say that again,” Jackson replied looking at the room full of zombies that had been revealed when their cell moved once more.

Stiles suddenly realized that Derek was still holding him against his body; a solid line of heat against Stiles back. He tried to move but Derek’s arm tightened around his waist so Stiles gave up and stayed where he was; simultaneously calmed by Derek’s protectiveness and flustered by his proximity.

“You said…” Stiles started but stopped to wet his suddenly very dry lips nervously. “Back there, with Allison’s aunt…you said that she killed your family. Because they were werewolves too, right? That’s why you’re doing all this.”

Derek gave a bitter sounding noise that Stiles could feel vibrate through him. “Not all of us were werewolves; she didn’t care though. She just killed them all.”

“I’m sorry,” Stiles told him and he really was. He remembered what it had felt like when his mother died and couldn’t even imagine how much worse it must’ve been for Derek.

“I was sixteen and she…I thought she was…” Derek broke off and Stiles could feel him shake his head. “She made me watch, made sure that I knew that I was the reason my family was dead so that she could break me and turn me into a bloodthirsty monster. One that didn’t care about anything outside of the kill…just like the rest.” He lifted the arm that wasn’t around Stiles to indicate the surrounding cells. “It worked until they brought Isaac here. They underestimated the feeling of responsibility an Alpha has for a wolf in its care; it brought me back to myself.”

Stiles hesitated for a moment and then gripped the arm around him and squeezed. “I should have hit her harder.”

Derek snorted against his neck and Stiles couldn’t control the shudder that went through him at that. Derek froze, while Stiles inwardly cursed every deity he’d ever heard of, but then he slowly lowered his head and buried it in Stiles’ neck.

“Stiles…” he exhaled against the skin before licking at the pulse point.

There was the same electricity that Stiles had felt when Derek licked his shoulder but it felt magnified, the sparks shooting under his skin and turning him on faster than anything he’d ever felt before. Stiles dug his fingers into Derek’s thighs and dropped his head back onto Derek’s shoulder with a low moan.

“I’d tell you both to get a room but I’m pretty sure Lydia said that we _need_ Stiles’ pitiful virginal state right now.” Jackson drawled.

Stiles’ eyes flew open at the same time that Derek pushed him away, causing him to stumble a couple of steps before he regained his balance. He spun around to face Derek who was breathing hard and deliberately looking everywhere but at Stiles.

“Enough’s enough,” Stiles said unsteadily. “You need to explain this, Dere…”

There was a loud bang and then the wall which Stiles had found himself leaning against began to shake. Before he could move, Derek had launched himself across the small space and pulled Stiles from the wall. He and Jackson then stood between Stiles and what looked like a real life and infinitely more terrifying version of Ursula from The Little Mermaid; which Stiles had only seen thanks to a disturbing Disney phase Scott went through when they were six. ‘Ursula’ laughed at Derek and Jackson’s growling, revealing her own razor sharp teeth, and kept slapping her giant octopus tentacles against the wall, which had begun to crack under the pressure.

“Oh shit, oh shit!” Stiles chanted as he watched a tentacle break through the wall on ‘Ursula’s’ side and begin pounding on their wall. “Guys, I think you should move back.”

Derek stopped growling long enough to notice the fact that the tentacle had almost broken through and grabbed Jackson to pull him further into the room. It wasn’t in time and the tentacle burst into the room and wrapped itself around Jackson’s ankle.

“Fuck! Get it off me!” Jackson yelled as he was pulled to the ground towards the hole in the cell wall. 

Stiles ran forward and grabbed Jackson around the shoulders trying to pull him away while Derek slashed at the tentacle with his claws, he wasn’t making much headway though and Jackson continued to be dragged across the floor pulling Stiles along with him. 

The room gave a now familiar shudder and Stiles tightened his hold on Jackson, anticipating what was about to happen.

“Hang on!” he yelled.

Then the cell slid smoothly to one side, severing the tentacle from Ursula and spraying the three of them in disgusting smelling green gunk. Stiles and Jackson fell back against the floor as the room travelled away from Ursula and her high pitched shrieking.

“That was close,” Stiles panted.

Jackson nodded as Derek yanked the remaining piece of tentacle off Jackson’s leg and threw it into a corner where it twitched.

“Umm, guys,” Stiles started, staring at the tentacle. “Is that thing still alive?”

The other two turned to look and when it moved again, Jackson jumped up. “Fuck!”

“Smells dead,” Derek said and Stiles gave him a look. 

“Of course it smells dead. We _all_ smell dead thanks to this stuff.” Stiles flicked some of the green gunk from his hand as he climbed to his feet. “Oh, gross!”

The cell came to a stop again and, after a moment, Stiles looked up from his gunk contemplation to see what horrors faced them now. His eyes widened as he took in the bright white corridor containing a man with a gun pointed right at them. Once again, Derek pushed Stiles behind him as the clear wall slid open but before the man could open fire, the twitching tentacle decided to prove that it wasn’t dead by slithering across the floor and right up the man’s trouser leg.

“Good, evil tentacle!” Stiles shouted, cheering it on now that it wasn’t attacking them.

The man gave a yell and tried to hit at the thing sliding up his pants which was all the distraction that Jackson needed to rush forward and throw him against the wall. He fell to the ground unconscious and Jackson grabbed his gun before the three of them left the cell and walked into the complex corridor. There was a _ding_ behind them and some elevator doors closed over the cell they’d just vacated, carrying it away once more. 

Stiles swept his eyes over the corridor. The walls were lined with more closed elevator doors which were probably used to access the cells for various reasons and probably wouldn’t be of any use to them. At the end was an empty guard’s station which Stiles guessed had been manned by the guy they’d left in their cell. There were also security cameras placed along the top of the walls, all of which were currently turning in their direction.

Stiles nudged Derek and indicated towards the camera. “They know we’re here.”

Derek nodded and pushed Stiles towards the guard’s station. Before they reached it another elevator dinged and Scott, Isaac, Allison and Lydia came tumbling out of it, all of them looking pale and shaken.

“What the hell happened to you guys?” Scott asked, wrinkling his nose. “You look like a troll sneezed on you.”

Instead of answering, Jackson flicked green gunk from his hand directly into Scott’s face then held his fist out to Stiles who bumped it with his own. Apparently, fighting evil octopus women could bond two former enemies. Who knew?

While Scott spluttered and tried desperately to wipe the stuff off his face with the hem of his t-shirt, a male voice came over the speakers.

_“You shouldn’t be here. This should have gone differently, handled more quickly.”_

“Oh my god, that’s Gerard!” Allison said.

“Who’s Gerard?” Jackson asked.

Allison looked at him, her expression grave. “My grandfather.”

_“I can only imagine your pain and confusion, but know this, what's happening to you is part of something bigger, something older than anything known. You've seen horrible things, an army of nightmare creatures, but they're nothing compared to what came before. What lies below. It's our task to placate the ancient ones, as it's yours to be offered up to them. Forgive us, and let us get it over with quickly.”_

“Fuck that!” Stiles announced as he stalked towards the guard station, the other’s on his heels. “There’s got to be something in here that can help us.”

_“Allison, sweetheart. Walk to the other end of the corridor and let the security guards do their job. I know these people are your friends but this is their destiny, just as surviving is yours.”_

“Screw you, Gerard!” Allison yelled, giving the finger to the cameras before she dived into the guard’s station with the rest of them.

They all stared at Allison in shock for a beat and then burst out laughing.

“Christ, Allison, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Jackson told her.

“Oh, shut up!” Allison swatted at his arm before turning to Stiles. “Found anything useful?”

“Nothing yet,” Stiles answered as he scrolled through the computer looking for a map or a ‘How to Take Down Ritualistic Bastards for Idiots’ manual, anything to help them. Lydia came up beside him and started flicking through the security feed.

“Oh hell!” she murmured as she came across one showing a corridor filled with heavily armed security men running in the same direction.

Stiles looked at the feed and then at the opposite end of the corridor they were in just as the men burst into it.

“Get down!” he shouted and everyone fell to the floor just as the gunfire broke out.

Stiles threw his arms over his head as the computer exploded above him.

“Stiles!” Derek cried, crawling towards him.

“I’m alright,” Stiles said as he was pulled into Derek’s arms. “I don’t think we’re getting out of this one though.”

His eyes scanned the tiny, bullet riddled, booth desperately. They fell on the security screen which was still working and was showing the monsters’ cells then drifted across to a big red button with ‘Purge Holding Area’ stamped next to it. 

“…unless we have help,” he said and pointed at the button.

He could see the understanding of what he suggested dawn on each of them and, as the men firing at them grew closer, they nodded at him one by one.

“Do it!” Derek growled into the back of his neck and Stiles reached up and hit the button.

For a moment nothing happened. Then there were a series of _dings_ , one after the other, as the elevator doors opened, followed by inhuman growls and cries mingled with the screams of the dying security men. Scott jumped and shrieked like a girl when a severed leg came flying into the booth and landed in his lap but Isaac calmly picked it up and threw it back out again.

Stiles began to shake as he listened to the carnage. _He’d_ done that, he’d condemned all those men to die in the worst ways imaginable.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Derek whispered, stroking up and down his arms. “You had no choice. They were going to kill us all.”

Turning over, Stiles hid his face against Derek’s chest and tried to block everything else out; everything except the other man's scent and the feel of his hands stroking random patterns onto Stiles' back. Someone grabbed hold of his ankle and Stiles almost kicked out until he realized that whoever it was rubbing circles into his skin too, trying to soothe him. Likewise, whoever had taken hold of both of his hands. 

Slowly he sank into the touches and stopped shuddering every time he heard the sound of someone dying because of him. Eventually the sounds stopped too.

Stiles raised his head. Lydia who had been holding one of his hands tried to give him a smile but her eyes reflected the horror he knew was in his own. He appreciated the effort though so he tried his best to return the smile, guessing that it probably looked as strained as hers. He blinked as he realized that Jackson had been the person holding his ankle.

“We’re never talking about this again,” Jackson whispered, giving him a snide look but he did squeeze Stiles ankle once before letting go so Stiles…huh, really didn’t know what to do with that.

It turned out that Isaac had hold of Stiles’ other hand from where he was wrapped behind Derek. Stiles had sort of assumed that it had been Scott but Scott had Allison in his lap, arms wrapped around her as she hid her face in much the same way that Stiles just had. He was looking at Stiles sympathetically though before he nodded his head towards Jackson and mouthing “What the fuck?” which made Stiles give a much more real smile.

Stiles cleared his throat. “As nice as all this cuddling is, we should probably get moving before someone finds us.”

Isaac gave a weak chuckle and shot Stiles a smile. “When we get out of this, we’ll show you the meaning of ‘puppy pile’,” he said with a wink.

Stiles pointed at him. “I don’t know what that is…but it sounds _awesome_!”

And that was better, pulling his ‘joker of the pack’ persona around him helped to fend off the residual terror and steeled him to actually face what was outside the booth.

The previously pristine white corridor was now covered in red. Stiles couldn’t see the floor beneath the blood and the walls had been liberally splashed with it too. As they stepped out of the guard’s station, Stiles made a vow to not look too closely at the random piles of _something_ on the floor and instead concentrated on the monsters who were left; which wasn’t many as most of them seemed to have taken off through the brand new holes in the walls, floor and ceiling. 

Stiles had lost his gun somewhere in the confusion in the cell…or the guard’s station, and how messed up was his life right now that he didn’t even know which death defying moment had caused him to lose his only weapon? Isaac bent over and got him a new one though, even taking the time to try and wipe it clean on his hoodie but Stiles could still feel his fingers sliding through remaining blood as he held the gun out in front of him.

Something scaly with wings flew at them and Allison let off a shot from her gun, hitting it perfectly and the rest of them skittered apart as it hit the ground between them and slid along the floor. Coming back together, they made their way down the corridor as a group, slowly approaching something that looked like a small scale Jabba the Hut but it ignored them as it continued eating one of the piles of something that Stiles was refusing to look at.

There was movement in one of the open elevator doors and Stiles spun around to see the small girl he’d wanted to help earlier. She smiled at him prettily, waved at him then opened her mouth to reveal the clawed hand which also waved at him before she skipped away from them.

“I think she's got a crush on you, Stilinski,” Jackson snickered.

Stiles shuddered. “Fuck off, Jackson!” he said but there was no heat in it.

They had almost made it to the end of the corridor when a frantic looking man skidded around the corner.

“Allison, thank god!” he yelled as he spotted them.

“Dad!” Allison said, taking an automatic step forward but Derek put a hand out to stop her.

Stiles watched, almost in slow motion, as Allison’s dad looked at his daughter then at the man he knew to be a werewolf who was grabbing his daughter’s arm and he started moving even before Allison’s dad raised his gun.

There was a loud gunshot and Stiles suddenly fell backwards into Derek as the bullet hit him. He passed out to the sounds of Derek and Scott trying franticly to keep him awake while Allison screamed at her dad in the background.

*-*-*-*-*

“Where the fuck is security?” Finstock yelled into the phone as the banging outside the door increased. “I don’t care about the fucking _chemists_ , we need them here, now!”

Harris heard him slam down the phone but didn’t take his eyes from the computer he was currently sat at. 

“Sectors 8 through 12 are down,” he reported and heard Finstock curse. “And there goes sector 6.”

“They let the fucking monsters out? What the hell were they thinking?” 

“That if they were going to die then they were taking the rest of us with them?” Harris shrugged as he looked up and met the incredulous look Finstock was giving him. “It’s what I would have done.”

“No, you would have lain down and died like a good little tribute,” Finstock pointed at him.

Harris snorted, “Are you claiming that’s what _you_ would’ve done?”  
“Damn right!” Finstock said although Harris could clearly see that he was lying his ass off. “I’d have taken one for the team…done it for the Gipper…swept the leg…cried in baseball…”  
“Do you have any idea of what you’re talking about right now? Or are you just quoting sports movies at me?” Harris asked.  
Finstock stopped and looked at him for a moment. “…ate thunder and crapped lightening…”

Harris threw his arms in the air and turned back to the computer. “Sector 3 just went down.”

“Fuck!” Finstock yelled. “Where the hell is security?”

“I think we need to forget about security and just get ourselves out of here before this whole place comes crashing down,” Harris said. “All the tributes are still alive. They’re here in the complex and they’ve unleashed the monsters. I can’t see _any_ way we can salvage this.”

Finstock pushed the ridiculous cape he was still wearing back over one shoulder as he considered Harris’ suggestion. 

“Let me try…” he began, walking towards the control panel on the other side of the room but there was an explosion outside the door which sent Finstock flying across the room.

He landed hard on one of desks and rolled off onto the ground but Harris could see that he was still conscious. 

Harris ran to the emergency escape hatch which was hidden under some of the floor tiles and began to turn the wheel to open it.

“Bobby, we’re leaving. Get your ass over here,” he called across the room.

Finstock waved a hand at him. “Just…let me…catch…my breath.”

“Hurry up, who knows what…” Harris trailed off as he heard a steady thumping noise within the thick smoke that filled the entrance to the room. “ _Bobby_ …”

Finstock flapped that hand at him again, peering into the smoke. “What is that?”

“I don’t care what it is!” Harris grunted as he pulled the hatch open. “I just care about getting out of here!”

There was a humming noise from Finstock but his entire attention was now on the thumping in the smoke. As Harris watched, the smoke dissipated a bit to show that the thumping was the sound of a large creature walking straight towards Finstock. 

Finstock’s eyes widened as he took in the monstrous creature snarling at him with drool dripping from the trunks which protruded from its mouth. Finstock’s hands scrabbled blindly against the floor looking for any kind of weapon to defend himself and let out a triumphant sound when his fingers clenched around something. He dragged it in front of him and then realized that he was clutching his much beloved but very flimsy plastic sword.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he ground out just before the Orc raised his club and brought it down on Finstock’s head.

Harris flinched at the sight of his partner’s demise, inadvertently knocking the lid of the hatch and attracting the Orc’s attention. The creature let out a roar and Harris quickly scrambled down the ladder, pulling the lid closed behind him.

He dropped into the escape tunnel, took a moment to orientate himself, and then took off in the direction he thought led to the outside world. As he turned the corner he ran into someone coming from the opposite direction and felt some claws pierce his stomach.

He looked up into the red eyes of a snarling werewolf and had a moment to reflect that he probably wouldn’t have survived even if he had escaped, before those claws ripped upwards through his torso. The werewolf flung him to one side and Harris could only watch as all the tributes moved past him, carrying Stilinski and, for some reason, dragging a bound Chris behind them.

“Fucking students,” he mumbled, blood bubbling from his mouth, before he slumped against the floor with a final wheezed exhale.

*-*-*-*-*

Stiles slowly came back to awareness; probably because Derek didn’t have a bucket of water handy this time. He let out a groan and felt someone instantly drop to his side.

“Stiles? Dude, you awake?” That’s was Scott’s anxious voice and Stiles forced his eyes open to look at his friend.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, coughing.

“You got shot, Stiles!” Scott said angrily. “You threw yourself in front of a bullet! What were you thinking?”

Stiles remembered now; Allison’s dad. 

“I wasn’t,” he replied because it was true. He’d seen what was going to happen and just reacted because he couldn’t let Derek get killed.

He started to pat his way down his body, trying to find where it hurt because he couldn’t feel anything except the cold leeching from the stone floor beneath him.

“It got you in the thigh,” Isaac said helpfully as he sat down on Stiles’ other side. “Don’t worry, Derek fixed it. It was a bit hit and miss for a while there though and Derek’s been grumpier than normal while you were out.”

“Where _is_ Derek?” Stiles asked, tamping down on the twinge of disappointment that the werewolf hadn’t been there when he woke up.

“The others have gone ahead to check things out. They left me and Isaac to watch over you two,” Scott told him, his anger seeming to have passed; Scott never could stay mad at Stiles for long.

Stiles frowned. “Two?”

Isaac nodded his head to the front of Stiles and Stiles pushed himself up to see Allison’s dad watching them warily with his hands bound in front of him. What had Derek called him? Chris.

“He swore blind that he had no idea that Allison had been chosen and that he’d come here to rescue her, so Allison wouldn’t let us leave him behind to get killed,” Scott explained. “That was after we had to talk Derek down from trying to rip his throat out for shooting you, of course. What the hell is going on with you two anyway?”

“They’re mates,” Chris said from where he was sat. 

Stiles blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“Derek didn’t tell you?” Isaac asked.

“You knew?” Stiles turned on Isaac. “Wait? Is that why you were being so nice to me in the guard’s station? And why you gave me that gun?”

“What the gun that you didn’t use and instead threw yourself in front of another one?” Isaac asked wryly as Stiles flushed. “You’re kind of fun to have around so I probably would’ve done that anyway but you _are_ the Alpha mate and I’m kind of driven to protect you.”

 _Alpha mate._ God, he had some werewolf sort of title now.

Stiles shook his head. “And this was all because he healed my shoulder?”

“What happened to your shoulder?” Scott asked.

Stiles stared at him. “ _That’s_ what you’re choosing to pick out of all that?”

Isaac snickered while Scott shrugged sheepishly. Stiles couldn’t deal with this right now; they had more important things to focus on.

He pinched the top of his nose. “Look, just fill me in on what I missed while I was out.”

Scott and Isaac immediately launched into the story of their escape from the corridor of doom by jumping through a hole in the floor and then using an honest to god door disguised as a cupboard which Chris had directed them to. They had then followed the emergency tunnel they had found themselves in until Lydia had pointed out that they were in a safe enough spot, considering, and that Stiles would probably recover better if he wasn’t being constantly jostled in Isaac’s arms. 

“So we both volunteered to stay with you and Derek said we could probably keep an eye on _him_ as well,” Scott said, nodding towards Chris.

“There was also a dragon at one point but that thing was terrifying so you should probably be glad that you missed it,” Isaac added and Stiles couldn’t quite tell if he was joking or not. 

“Chris…” Stiles enjoyed the disgruntled look which passed over the man’s face, either because Stiles knew his name or because of Stiles lack of respect. “…what is up ahead?”

“The Ritual Room,” the man ground out.

“Riiiight, because that doesn’t sound ominous. Who the hell designed this pla..?” Stiles trailed off as Derek appeared. “Honeybunch! Sunshine of my life! _Mate_!”

Derek stopped walking at Stiles’ words and he narrowed his eyes at Isaac who shook his head and pointed at Chris. Derek then growled furiously at Chris who gave him an unrepentant smirk.

“You should’ve told the boy yourself, Derek,” Chris told him smugly. “Although I _am_ a little surprised, I thought your tastes were a bit more…female.”

“Maybe your bitch of a sister put him off women for life.” Stiles butted in and, ignoring Chris’ outraged splutter, said to Isaac in a sotto voice, “She looked like she would be a really bad lay. All take, take, take.”

He may have been annoyed at Derek for not explaining _anything_ to him but he couldn’t stand by while an Argent made a jibe like that after what Derek had told him earlier. He was rewarded for it by the genuine smile Derek gave him. Which didn’t make him melt a little. Not at all. He was definitely still annoyed. Yep.

Stupid, attractive, stupidly attractive werewolf.

Derek jerked his head towards Chris. “Isaac, grab him and you and Scott go join the others.”

Isaac quickly leapt to it, yanking Chris none to gently to his feet. Scott hesitated, looking between Stiles and Derek with an almost pained expression; until Stiles nodded at him then he took off after Isaac.

“You should have told me,” Stiles said when they were out of earshot; or, at least, out of his eye line so that he could _pretend_ they were also out of earshot.

“You shouldn’t have jumped in front of that gun,” Derek countered.

“Totally not the same thing!” Stiles protested and then sighed when Derek just raised an eyebrow at him. “I just did it, okay. I wasn’t actively trying to get shot, it was a gut reaction. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You’ve got to stop doing stuff like that, Stiles,” Derek frowned at him.

“And _you’ve_ got to start telling me important stuff like the fact that I’m apparently an Alpha mate; whatever the hell that is.” Stiles tried to frown back but knew that it probably wasn’t anywhere near as impressive as Derek’s.

“Stiles…” Derek said wearily and Stiles flailed his hands a bit.

“No, you have to tell me. I refuse to learn any more of this stuff from Allison’s dick-ish dad! It happened when you healed my shoulder, right?”

Derek looked at the ground. “It would’ve happened anyway, that just sped up the process a bit.”

“Go on.” Stiles crossed his arms and waited.

Shifting uncomfortably, Derek continued to avoid looking Stiles in the eye. “My mother called it the ‘spark’. A spark of attraction between two werewolves, or a werewolf and a human, that they’re probably not even consciously aware of but...once it’s there, it doesn’t go away.”

“The licking thing made us aware of it earlier than normal.” Stiles nodded to himself. “When you say it doesn’t go away..?”

“It means we’re stuck with each other…until one of us dies,” Derek’s voice was so quiet that Stiles had to strain to hear him and his body was tense as if braced for Stiles to start yelling.

Of course he’d be expecting the worst possible reaction to that news considering his past and, judging from the fact that he’d been locked up here since, only relationship. It made Stiles’ heart break a little for him.

“Well, you certainly got the short end of that stick,” he said and Derek finally looked up at him, his face wrinkled in confusion. “I mean, have you seen you? You’re all tall, dark and growly and you can do that whole thing to my neck that is seriously awesome and which we’re doing again as soon as possible, by the way. _You_ got stuck with a virgin who needs healing all the time and talks too much and…”

“Stiles…”

Stiles stopped talking and looked at Derek who was suddenly looming over him. “What?”

Derek smiled. “Shut up!”

Then he leaned forward and kissed him; just a chaste press of lips but it made Stiles grin like an idiot.

“Lets get this over with so that you can devirginize me, shall we?” 

Derek chuckled and then hooked his arm around Stiles waist to help him limp down the tunnel as they followed the others.

“Finally!” Lydia sighed as they walked into the cavernous room. “It’s not like we’re in a rush here or anything.”

Stiles wasn’t paying her much attention though, he was too busy gazing around the cavernous room. They seemed to be standing on a round platform and, even though he had no desire to walk to the edge of it, he instinctively knew that the drop was really long. There were five huge figures carved into the stone walls. The outlines of the figures were darker than the rest of the wall and the occasional drips that had escaped, as well as the fact this was called The Ritual Room, told him that the dark parts were blood.

“Whatever happened to a good old stone altar with hot naked women dancing around it?” Stiles asked no one in particular.

“You’ve watched too many horror films,” Scott answered, then tipped his head thoughtfully. “Or too much freaky porn.”

Five carved figures. Five tributes.

“So these are supposed to represent us, I guess,” Stiles mused.

“Yes,” Chris replied. “There has to be five tributes and they have to be young. Those two facts haven’t changed in hundreds of years.”

Stiles turned to look at him and frowned. “Why?”

“To punish them for _being_ young,” a new voice said. Only it wasn’t a new voice at all; it was the voice from the speakers – Allison’s grandfather, Gerard.

Spinning around, Stiles saw an older, balding gentleman calmly walk into the room followed by Kate. Stiles automatically stood closer to Derek, a fact that her narrowed eyes didn’t miss.

Gerard pointed at the carvings as if he was a tour guide in some museum. “It changes from country to country, of course, but there must be a certain order to the Ritual. The Whore must be the first to die…” Lydia and Jackson both growled at him but, beyond a disinterested glance, Gerard ignored them in favour of continuing his lecture. “The next three can die in any order; The Athlete, The Scholar and The Fool.”

“At least call me The Light Relief,” Stiles said indignantly. “And which one of these two are you calling a _scholar_?”

“That would be Mr McCall.” Gerard winced. “That one was a bit of stretch, I will admit.”

“Hey!” Scott protested and everyone just looked at him until he shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Gerard’s gaze fell on Allison. “The Virgin is last and she can live or die as the fates decide. Or, as I prefer to look at it, she can live if she’s strong enough.”

Allison glared at him. “And your definition of being strong is standing by as your friends die? That’s pretty much the opposite of _my_ definition.”

“You think that now, niece of mine,” Kate said, giving Allison a warm smile. “But you’ll understand when you learn more about us and what we do here.”

“I learned enough back at that clearing,” Allison told her and Kate blinked in shock. “Yeah, I was listening…and burning whole families alive? I’d rather die _now_ than ever be involved in something like that.”

“They were werewolves,” Kate spat. “Monsters!”

“Not all of them,” Stiles put in.

Chris’ head snapped up. “What? You told me…”

“Oh please, like we tell you everything. What with your ridiculous ‘code’.” Kate did actual air quotes as she sneered at her brother. “That’s why we sent you away this week. It’s why dad sent you away when I was part of the ritual. You’d mess everything up.”

“You volunteered, Kate. You knew exactly what you were doing but Allison…” Chris’ hands clenched within the ropes as if he wanted to put them around Kate’s neck and Stiles knew the feeling. “ _You could’ve killed my little girl!_ ”

Stiles pulled his eyes away from the family drama in front of him when he noticed Gerard move to one side. For a moment he thought that the old man was trying to pull something while everyone was distracted but instead he was staring at Scott and the way he’d taken a protective stance in front of Allison with interest. 

There was a loud rumble and the ground began to shake, large chunks of stone falling from the ceiling to crash around them. It passed just as suddenly as it had begun and the group looked at each other in surprise; apart from Gerard who looked just as unconcerned as he had before.

“The ancient ones are getting restless,” he told them. “They’re demanding their tributes.”

“Well, they can’t have us,” Lydia huffed.

“I think they already have, my dear,” Gerard replied. “From the growling you and your boyfriend did earlier it’s fairly obvious that you are no longer human. And, unless I’m very much mistaken, Mr McCall is now a werewolf too.” He paused there to give Derek an impressed look for the plan he’d come up with. “Therefore, as far as you three are concerned, your human lives have been sacrificed and the ritual fulfilled."

Kate laughed as she realized where Gerard was headed with this. 

“That just leaves us with The Fool and The Virgin and we all know that The Virgin has to be the last one standing,” she smirked at Stiles.

“That’s true,” Derek rumbled from his spot next to Stiles and everyone in the group gaped at him in shock. “But Allison’s not a virgin.”

Chris flinched at that while Allison flushed and very determinedly didn’t look at her father. Kate, however, laughed louder.

“Oh, Derek. You may be pretty but you’ve never been all that smart,” she gave him a pitying look. “It’s just a title; she doesn’t actually have to be a virgin. These aren’t the Dark Ages anymore.”

“That explains how _you_ were able to take part in the ritual,” Stiles muttered quietly but she caught it anyway and sent him a death glare.

“Hmm.” Derek hummed as he pretended to think over what Kate had said. “But if there is an actual virgin in the group then the title must have to go to them, right?”

There were various reactions to the impact of Derek’s words. Stiles and Allison were both staring at each other in shock, realizing the implications of their sudden role reversal. The werewolves were looking between Stiles and Allison worriedly. Gerard’s unconcerned façade had finally slipped and he looked furious whereas Chris and Kate were staring at Stiles in confusion and shock respectively. 

“No college kids are virgins; that’s why we pick them,” Kate said incredulously. 

“But…you’re Derek’s mate!” Chris pointed out at the same time.

“Dude, we just met!” Stiles latched onto Chris’ statement as it was marginally less embarrassing than Kate's. “We’ve been running for our lives all night! Who has sex at a time like that?”

There was some coughing and shifty looks from Jackson and Lydia.

“Okay, those two obviously did but you lot drugged them or hypnotized or whatever the hell it was you were doing to them,” Stiles amended and then he noticed the uncomfortable shuffling from Scott and Allison as well. “Seriously? When did you even find time?”

“When we were…” Scott started but Chris threw up a hand to stop him and gave Scott a look so icy that Scott actually ducked behind Allison to use her as a shield. 

Suddenly there was a deafening roar that echoed throughout the room and the ground shook again for a few minutes.

“The sun is almost up,” Gerard said. “The Ritual must be completed.”

“Or what?” Stiles asked, staring at the cracks which had appeared in the carvings on the walls.

“ _They_ rise,” Gerard replied. “Ancient gods that used to rule the world. We’ve managed to keep them contained with the Ritual, appeased them with the tributes but if this fails then they’ll take over again.”

“Holy shit! Are you telling me that this is a hellmouth?!” Stiles yelped and Jackson slapped him upside the head.

“You’re not serious,” Chris said to Gerard. “You’d kill your own granddaughter?”

Gerard looked at him calmly. “To save the world, I’d kill my own children.”

Chris let out a bitter laugh. “This isn’t about saving the world, not for you. This is about the power that the ancient ones give you. They keep you alive even when that cancer should have killed you decades ago.”

“Luckily for me, those things are mutually exclusive,” Gerard pointed out with a smile.

“Chris, they’ll rise if Allison lives,” Kate said. “I hate this as much as you but it’s true.”

“The human race, subjugated under their rule, because of one little girl. I can't allow that to happen.” Gerard produced a gun from somewhere and pointed it at Allison.

Scott roared and tried to get back in front of her but Kate pulled the trigger on her own gun and Scott fell back, bleeding from his abdomen. “Bad puppy! Stay down!”

Derek started to growl and then all the wolves jumped into action. Lydia leapt at Gerard, knocking the gun from his hand. Immediately he began to fight back with surprising strength that Stiles guessed was another perk that the ancient ones had given him and Jackson went to Lydia’s aid. Isaac ran to help Allison with Scott while Derek dived at Kate. 

Stiles hobbled over to Chris. 

“You’re willing to risk the world to save her?” he asked and Chris looked at him with pain filled eyes.

“Yes, god help me. She’s my daughter.”

Stiles stared at the man for a moment and then, seeing that he was telling the truth, pressed his gun into Chris’ bound hands. “Good, because I can’t shoot for shit.”

There was a loud yelp of pain from Derek and Stiles’ head shot up to see that Kate had buried a knife to the hilt in Derek’s side. Isaac jumped to his feet to come to his Alpha’s aid but, before he could make it more than a couple of steps, Derek’s hand flew up and his claws cut cleanly through Kate’s throat.

Having finally avenged his family, Derek gave a roar of triumph and threw Kate’s body over the edge of the platform. Then he stumbled forward a few steps and collapsed to his knees.

Ignoring the pain from his still healing leg, Stiles limped across the platform as quickly as he could and dropped to Derek’s side.

“Derek! Christ, what can I do?” 

“Pull out the knife,” Derek said through gritted teeth.

“Oh god!” Stiles swallowed hard as he wrapped his fingers around the handle. “Okay, I can do this…no I can’t. What if I do something wrong and make it worse? I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to leave impaling objects in to minimize the bleeding. I think I read that somewhere and minimizing bleeding is a good thing.”

Derek gripped Stiles shoulder and stopped his babbling. “You need to take it out so I can heal. Do it, I trust you.”

Stiles nodded and then closed his eyes and yanked on the handle as hard as he could. Derek cried out and once, Stiles had thrown the knife to one side, he started franticly running his hands over Derek’s body.

“Are you okay? Please tell that you’re okay.”

“Shh, Stiles.” Derek’s hands came up to grab Stiles’. “I’m fine. It’s already healing.”

Stiles let out a sigh of relief and fell forward to rest his forehead on Derek’s shoulder. “Jesus, don’t _do_ that.”

“I’ll stop when you do,” Derek said as he nuzzled Stiles’ hair.

Stiles opened his mouth to snark back when a shot rang out. 

Gerard was staring at his own chest in shock as a red stain spread across the front of his shirt. Chris was standing before him with Stiles’ gun held in his still bound hands.

“You’ve killed everyone,” Gerard rasped at him.

Chris shook his head. “I’ve killed you. As for everyone else…I think you and the ancient ones underestimate humanity’s ability to fight back.”

Gerard began to cough and a thick black liquid bubbled on his lips.

“The power; it’s rotted everything inside him,” Derek murmured to Stiles who was watching the events unfold with wide eyes.

Then Gerard threw back his head and the black liquid gushed out of his mouth like a fountain before he dropped dead to the ground.

Lydia, Jackson and Chris hopped backwards away from the spreading black pool.

“That was the grossest thing I’ve ever seen,” Jackson said. “And I have to look at McCall’s face on a regular basis.”

“Fuck you, Jackson!” Scott called from where he was now sitting in Allison’s arms, his wound almost fully healed.  
There was another tremor and the cracks on the wall increased.

“We should get out of here,” Allison said.

Chris nodded. “There’s a bunker nearby. We can hole up there for a few days while we figure out what to do next.”

The journey out of the complex was a lot simpler than getting in, especially with Chris directing them through the tunnels. They emerged on the other side of the mountain and were soon travelling to the bunker in a hot wired van.

As the sun finally rose, Stiles looked out of the back window in time to see a giant hand grip the top of the mountain as the owner of said hand pulled itself out of the ground.

“Fuck!” he breathed. “Giant evil gods!”

Chris stepped harder on the gas and Derek pulled Stiles away from the window into his lap.

“We’ll be fine,” Derek said, his head buried in Stiles’ neck. 

“If you end that with ‘as long as we’re together’ I will punch you in the face,” Stiles told him and Derek chuckled. “I will tell you one thing, as soon as we get to this bunker I’m going to find a pair of pants to wear.”

“As soon as we get to this bunker, you won’t need to wear any pants for a while,” Derek promised him.

Stiles shivered at that and considered the fact that, all things considered, the end of world didn’t actually look that bad.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> I've obviously taken a few liberties with Teen Wolf canon; the main one being the speed with which the newly turned werewolves get control of their powers but it was the only way I could fit all the action into one night. I hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment of the story.


End file.
